Petr Pavel, a retired army general, decisively defeats billionaire Andrej Babis in a runoff vote to become Czech Republic's new president
Pavel has vowed to be an independent president unaffected by party politics and to continue to support aid to war-torn Ukraine as well as its bid to become an EU member.
"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. 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.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.
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.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.
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