Ukraine Backer, NATO Supporter Wins Czech Presidency

Ex-general Petr Pavel has won another gritty campaign -- this time at the ballot box.

Photo Insert: The bearded 61-year-old, a decorated veteran who took part in a high-stakes peacekeeping mission in the Balkans and represented his country as a top-tier NATO general, was voted Czech president on Saturday.

The bearded 61-year-old, a decorated veteran who took part in a high-stakes peacekeeping mission in the Balkans and represented his country as a top-tier NATO general, was voted Czech president on Saturday, beating billionaire ex-prime minister Andrej Babiš, Euronews and Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

With the ballots from 97% of almost 15,000 polling stations counted by the Czech Statistics Office, Pavel had 57.8% of the vote compared with 42.2% for Babiš.

Though Czech presidents wield little day-to-day power, Pavel will have influence over foreign policy and government opinion, as well as the power to appoint prime ministers, constitutional judges, and central bankers.

True to his military past, he has vowed to bring "order" to the Czech Republic, a 10 million-strong EU and NATO member, hammered by record inflation and economic turmoil due to the Ukraine war.

“I can't ignore the fact that people here increasingly feel chaos, disorder, and uncertainty. That the state has somehow ceased to function," Pavel said on his campaign website.

"We need to change this," he added. "We need to play by the rules, which will be valid for everyone alike. We need a general sweep." Following in his father’s footsteps, Pavel underwent military education in former Czechoslovakia.

He joined the Communist Party, like his billionaire rival Babiš, and soon rose through the army ranks, studying to become an intelligence agent for the regime, the Associated Press (AP) also reported.

Pavel ran as an independent and was the strongest of the three candidates backed by the liberal-conservative coalition SPOLU of now-former President Miloš Zeman. He has argued for better redistribution of wealth and greater taxation of the rich while supporting progressive policies on issues such as same-sex marriage and euthanasia.

Positioning himself as a counterweight to populism, Pavel anchors the Czech Republic in NATO and wants to align his country with the European Union (EU), Reuters reported.

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