To replace Milos Zeman, a controversial politician who had close ties with Moscow until the invasion of Ukraine, as head of the country, the Czechs have chosen a former soldier.

After counting 90% of the ballots in the second round of the presidential election, former elite paratrooper Petr Pavel is credited with 57.07% of the vote against former Prime Minister and billionaire Andrej Babis.

Voting Friday in the village of Cernoucek, the former NATO general said he wanted to be "a worthy president" of an EU member country with 10.5 million inhabitants.

"I'm not going to make empty promises but I will describe the reality as it is," he added.

In a tweet posted on Saturday, Petr Pavel urged voters to "go for it", posting his picture while bungee jumping.

NATO controversy

Petr Pavel, 61, is a hero of the war in the former Yugoslavia during which he notably helped to free French soldiers.

He then became chief of the Czech staff and that of NATO's military committee.

The two rivals had been members of the Communist Party in the 1980s, when Czechoslovakia was under Moscow's tutelage.

Andrej Babis, owner of the agro-food, chemical and media group Agrofert, is the fifth Czech fortune, according to Forbes magazine.

His wealth and legal worries made him a divisive figure, and he called the vote a "referendum on Babis".

Prime Minister from 2017 to 2021, he caused controversy last week by declaring that he would not send Czech troops if other NATO member states, Poland or the Baltic States, were attacked.

Remarks on which he returned but which aroused criticism in the region.



Independent political analyst Jan Kubacek, however, said the election would not lead to a change in Czech foreign policy, regardless of who wins.

“The Czech Republic will remain pro-Western,” he explains.

Although his role is essentially ceremonial in the Czech Republic, the head of state appoints the government, chooses the governor of the central bank and the constitutional judges, and assumes supreme command of the armed forces.

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