With 80 percent of the votes counted, Pavel has received 56.5 percent of the vote, and the country's electorate has declared him the winner.
According to Czech TV, there is a difference of just over 650,000 votes between Pavel and the opposing candidate Andrej Babis.
The former prime minister, one of the country's richest men and often labeled as the Donald Trump of the Czech Republic, preliminarily receives 43.5 percent of the vote.
"We have to solve the problems together"
In a first statement, Pavel thanks the voters for their trust and says the result shows that the people voted for democracy.
He promises to work for all Czechs, and asks them to look past any differences of opinion.
- We must solve problems together, as a society, and not remain divided, he says according to Czech ct24.
Slovak President Zuzana Caputová has already congratulated Pavel on the victory, saying in a statement that decency and belief in the truth prevailed.
The result is entirely according to the last opinion polls before the election, which were held over two days, Friday and Saturday.
Former NATO General
Petr Pavel is a former head of defense with a background as a paratrooper.
Between 2015 and 2018, he headed the Supreme Military Council of the military alliance NATO.
Politically, however, he is more anonymous and above.
In the election campaign, he had the support of the current government.
The president of the Czech Republic has mainly ceremonial duties, but still plays an important role in the appointment of the government, the governor of the central bank and the constitutional court.