In the Czech presidential election, retired general and ex-PM led the field

Jan Lopatka

PRAGUE (Reuters – A former NATO general and a top military officer is heading into Friday’s Czech Republic presidential election as a favorite ahead of main rivals, a divisive former prime Minister and an economist professor.

While the NATO or European Union member countries do not have presidents, they can appoint prime ministers and central bankers to their positions and exercise a voice in foreign affairs.

Retired General Petr Pavel (61), ran as an independent in two of the four final polls.

Andrej Babis, a former prime Minister and billionaire who headed the largest opposition party within parliament, was ahead of the other two.

Another poll favors Pavel over Babis in a likely runoff. Babis, however, has cast the vote as a protest at the centre-right government he says does not do enough to help people manage their rising living expenses.

The first round of voting will close on Saturday. No candidate has been seen winning more than half the votes. There will be a run-off between two weeks to determine the winner.

According to polls, there are eight candidates. However, Pavel, Babis and Danuse Nerudova (44) have a chance of reaching the second round. According to pollsters, Pavel has a slight advantage because they expect him to win more votes from Babis than the other candidates. Fortuna, a betting agency, saw Pavel as the favourite at 1-1.48 to beat Babis at 3-3.40.

Nerudova (44 years old) is third in the polls. She would be the first woman to hold the job. It was first held by Vaclav Arel in 1993 after the break-up Czechoslovakia. Now it is held by Milos Zeman. Zeman tried to establish closer relations with Russia and China for the majority of his five-year terms.

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(Graphic: Czech presidential election frontrunners – https://www.reuters.com/graphics/CZECH-ELECTION/xmpjklkrnvr/chart.png)

PAVEL DOUBTS VISEGRAD GROUP

Babis, a friend to Viktor Orban the Hungarian leader visited Emmanuel Macron, French President on Tuesday to highlight his European connections.

Pavel distanced from Orban, who has been at odds with EU partners over the rule of law. He also questioned the merits central Europe’s Visegrad Group that includes Slovakia and Poland.

Pavel declared in a debate Wednesday that “when there are so many differences today on fundamental matters, it is a question if we should leave this format altogether.”

Pavel and Nerudova spoke in support of euro adoption.

Babis was in power between 2017-2021 when he was found to be in conflict of interests by the European Commission. The reason for this was subsidies Babis received to his Agrofert business empire which is in trust. In a case against the EU for subsidy fraud, he was cleared.

Babis is the top candidate who has shown the least support for Ukraine. However, the government is in control of this policy. They have been Kyiv’s most loyal supporters.

Pavel is a combination of a Soviet-era military education and a western military one. He served in a peacekeeping mission to the former Yugoslavia in 1990s. In 2015-2018, he was the leader of NATO’s military commission, which advises the alliance’s general secretary.

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(Graphic: Czech presidential election run-off scenarios – https://www.reuters.com/graphics/CZECH-ELECTION/movakjkqdva/chart.png)

(Reporting by Jan Lopatka, Editing by Tomasz Janowski