Former Chief of Staff Petr Pavel becomes the new President of the Czech Republic. After counting more than 90 percent of the constituencies in the run-off election, the former NATO general prevailed with around 57 percent of the votes against former Prime Minister Andrej Babis, as the CSU statistics authority announced in Prague today. Babis accounted for about 43 percent.
The current head of state, Milos Zeman, will leave office after ten years at the beginning of March. In the Czech Republic, which also belongs to the EU and NATO, the President has predominantly representative tasks. He also appoints the government and the constitutional judges. He is also the supreme commander of the armed forces. During the election campaign, Babis tried to portray Pavel as a warmonger. The former chief of staff spoke out in favor of continued support for Ukraine in the fight against Russia.
