Petr Pavel Elected

JAN 01 2023 · 12:00

Petr Pavel on the Prague Castle balcony at his inauguration, 9 March 2023. The retired general had defeated Babiš in the runoff six weeks earlier. Place: polling stations across the Czech Republic · Hradčany Square, Prague Castle Figures: Petr Pavel, retired general, former chair of the NATO Military Committee · Andrej Babiš, former prime minister, runoff opponent · Miloš Zeman, outgoing president Petr Pavel was a paratrooper officer in the late communist army. After 1989 he served in UN peacekeeping in the Yugoslav wars, was decorated for the evacuation of French troops under fire near Knin in 1993, rose through the new Czech General Staff, and from 2015 to 2018 chaired the NATO Military Committee, the alliance's senior uniformed body. He retires in 2018 and announces a candidacy for the presidency in 2022. He runs as an independent on a platform of rule of law, EU and NATO alignment, support for Ukraine after the Russian invasion of February 2022, and what he calls the Havel-Schwarzenberg line in foreign policy. The first round on January 13 and 14, 2023, eliminates seven candidates. The runoff is set between Pavel and Andrej Babiš, the former prime minister who had lost office in October 2021.