Ex NATO general Petr Pavel wins Czech presidential run-off vote

Retired NATO general Petr Pavel beat billionaire and former PM Andrej Babis in an election run-off, becoming the fourth president of the Czech Republic, final results revealed.

Pavel, a former paratrooper, won 58.3 percent of votes while Andrej Babis scored 41.7 percent, said the Czech Statistical Office on Saturday.

"I would like to thank those who voted for me and also those who did not but came to the polls, because they made it clear they honoured democracy and cared about this country," Pavel said after the results showed his victory.

"I can see that values such as truth, dignity, respect and humility have prevailed in this election," he added.

The 61-year-old Pavel will in March replace President Milos Zeman, an outspoken politician who fostered close ties with Moscow before making a U-turn when the Russia-Ukraine war started last year.

Turnout in the EU and NATO member country of 10.5 million people was unusually high, topping 70 percent following an acrimonious campaign marked by controversy.

READ MORE: Three frontrunners as Czechs vote in presidential election

Babis and his family have been targeted by death threats, while Pavel was the victim of a hoax claiming he was dead as disinformation plagued the final campaign.

"Our community is somewhat hurt by the presidential campaign, by the multiple crises we have faced and are facing, but also by the political style that has recently prevailed here," said Pavel.

"This has to change, and you have helped me to take the first step on the path towards this change."

Babis, who served as Czech prime minister from 2017-2021, congratulated Pavel after the vote and admitted defeat.

"I would like to wish him to be the president of all citizens of the Czech Republic, to be sensitive to their problems and fight for the interests of the Czech Republic," he added.

While the role is largely ceremonial, the Czech president names the government, picks the central bank governor and constitutional judges, and serves as commander of the armed forces.

'No better alternative'

Pavel will be the fourth Czech president since the country's independence following its peaceful split with Slovakia in 1993, four years after former Czechoslovakia shed four decades of totalitarian communist rule.

A graduate of a military university, Pavel rose to chief of the Czech general staff and chair of NATO's military committee.

Like Babis, Pavel was a member of the Communist Party in the 1980s.

But the man with a carefully trimmed beard and white hair, who has a passion for powerful motorbikes, has since become a strong advocate of EU and NATO membership.

"We have no better alternative. We should use all opportunities offered by membership and try to change that which we don't like," he said on his campaign website.