Andrej Babiš             Petr Pavel

13^th-14^th January 2023 was the period dedicated to the first round of elections in the Czech Republic. The acting president, Miloš Zeman could not run any further, due to the limitations imposed by his two five-year long mandates, as ruled by the Czech electoral law. M. Zeman, who last year stopped favouring the regime in the Kremlin, did not object to the support the Czech Government gave Ukraine. It consisted of tanks and military equipment. However, his reputation, marked by his disturbing eccentricities often raised questions on an international level with regard to where the Czech Republic was headed.

The newly elected Czech President, Petr Pavel, a former Chief of Staff of the Czech Armed Forces, and former President of the NATO Military Committee, ran as an independent candidate but was one of the three candidates supported by the governing alliance Spolu.[1]

He won the first round of elections with 35.4% of the votes, while his opponent, the former Czech Prime Minister, Andrej Babiš, supported by ANO 2011[2] came in second, with 35.5%. P. Pavel was supported by most of the candidates who were not eligible to take part in the elections, as well as by the acting Prime Minister, Petr Fiala, while A. Babiš was supported by the Bohemia and Moravia Communist Party, as well as by the acting President, M. Zeman.

Pavel and A. Babiš are the two candidates qualified to take part in the second round of presidential elections, out of the seven men and one woman who participated in the first round of elections to replace M. Zeman.

The second round took place during the 27^th-28^th January 2023. This time P. Pavel won the elections with the best result, defeating A. Babiš with a total of 58% votes, and became the president of the Czech Republic. He will officially take over his post on the 9^th March 2023. A, Babiš admitted his defeat, and congratulated P. Pavel. The voter turnout was 70%, the highest ever since the beginning of the Czech presidential elections.

It is worth mentioning that the second round of elections between the former prime minister, A. Babiš and the retired general, P. Pavel was described as a competition between populist oligarchs and liberal democracy. Their competition was marred by disinformation and even death threats.

In the Czech Republic, the role of the president is merely ceremonial, but highly influential. By the end of the two-week campaign a conclusion was drawn – it had been badly tempered and sometimes surreal. We noticed that P. Pavel dismissed the allegations on the social networks with regard to his alleged death. Furthermore, a copy of his website reported his death had been due to heart failure. P. Pavel said that the matter was handled by the police. Disinformation was condemned by A. Babiš as well, who described these endeavours as “despicable” and said he hoped the police investigates this case thoroughly. In the meantime, A. Babiš said that in the beginning of this week he would cancel his public appearances, after receiving an anonymous death threat.

Gl. (r) P. Pavel was the favourite of the Czech presidential elections, despite information that showed he had experience in the field of military intelligence, acquired during the communist era.

During the last meeting that took place for his support, he rallied thousands of people in the Old Town Square in Prague. He sent the participants a realist and interesting message: “When I served in the armed forces, I served my country and its citizens, no matter their political affiliations and I want to do the same as president.” When looking back upon the ten-year old mandate of M. Zeman, the former president of the Czech Republic, P. Pavel stated, on the 28^th January 2023 that the result of the elections represents the “victory of the values we share – truth and respect”. The Czech official added that he “will make sure that these values are found in Prague Castle”, referring to the seat of the Czech presidency.

Pavel’s political platform includes keeping his country on top in the EU and NATO. He stated that he favoured providing extra military aid to Ukraine, against the Russian invasion. He also supports the adoption of the euro, progressive policies, as well as same sex marriages. The new Czech president, who is largely known as “the general”, used as his campaign slogan: “I lead with experience and calm in difficult times”.

Expressing his vote, P. Pavel clearly told journalists that he wished to lead the Czech Republic “with dignity”, a NATO and EU Member State with 10.5 million citizens. It is worth mentioning though, that he did not make any empty promises, and he also said that “I won't offer you pie in the sky, but instead I’ll describe reality as it is”.

However, as expected, A. Babiš, who was recently acquitted of fraud charges related to EU financing, fuelled the fears that the war would spread in the Czech Republic, claiming that the “general does not believe in peace”.

Pavel is a former paratrooper. He received a French military award for having saved the lives of over 50 French soldiers during the wars in former Yugoslavia, in the ‘90s. He became the head of the Czech general staff before leaving it for NATO. He retired in 2018.

Under such circumstances, we must not forget that, while he was prime minister, the other candidate to the presidential elections, the billionaire, A. Babiš was very close to the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, who, as we very well know, is still close to the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, and continues to be in a position that raises many questions in the EU as to the rule of law.

I must highlight the stand of Otto Eibl, the head of the political sciences department at the University of Masaryk, from the Czech city of Brno, who stated that P. Pavel’s victory “might represent a calming moment, a step towards improving the political culture of the country, but it all depends on the way A. Babiš handles his defeat – if he continues to fuel the fire or admits his rival’s victory”. In the same context, during a speech he delivered on the 28^th January 2023 at his party in Prague, A. Babiš admitted his defeat, but showed no sign of retiring from politics. The former Czech prime minister emphasized that the registered result proved he still had a strong support and could win in the next parliamentary elections in 2025.

68 years old A. Babiš has a business empire that includes all kinds of businesses – from agriculture, to chemical products, to media. An audit from the European Commission found that he influenced the direction of EU subsidies to his businesses. Nevertheless, a Czech court cleared him of all fraud charges using EU funds.

As a conclusion, I must point out that the comments from the international media show that P. Pavel’s increased popularity, as compared to A. Babiš’s, could imply that the current trend in Europe favours war heroes, not political oligarchs.

[1] Spolu (“Together”) is a centre-right Czech alliance established for the 2021 elections. It is made of the Civic Democratic Party, the KDU-ČSL and TOP 09. It has been governing the country ever since the 2021 elections, when the Pirates and Mayors Alliance also joined. During the presidential elections in 2023, Spolu supported three candidates.

[2] ANO 2011, for short ANO (“Yes”). The initials stand for the Alliance of Disgruntled Citizens and it is a populist political party from the Czech Republic. ANO is mainly seen as a centrist party, but it was also perceived as a centre-left or centre-right political party.