Petr Pavel Takes the Oath

JAN 01 2023 · 12:00

Petr Pavel, fourth President of the Czech Republic, official portrait. Place: Vladislav Hall, Prague Castle Figures: Petr Pavel, fourth president of the Czech Republic · Pavel Rychetský, Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court · Miloš Zeman, outgoing Petr Pavel, 61, retired four-star general and former chair of the NATO Military Committee, is sworn in as the fourth president of the Czech Republic in Vladislav Hall, the late-Gothic vault Benedikt Ried completed in 1502 (see [[vladislav-hall-completed]]). The oath is administered by Pavel Rychetský, Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court. Outgoing president Miloš Zeman attends; the two men have not been on speaking terms since the campaign. Pavel is the first Czech president to come from the post-communist military and the first whose pre-political career sits entirely after 1989. His campaign slogan, *Vrátíme řád* (We will restore order), reads in office as continuity with the Havel-Schwarzenberg tradition more than restoration of anything new.