Czechs vote for new president in 2-day first round
January 13, 2023
Polls opened in the Czech Republic on Friday to pick a new president to succeed controversial figure Milos Zeman in the largely ceremonial role.
Opinion polls suggested a tight race between the billionaire and populist ex-prime minister Andrej Babis, former army general Petr Pavel and economics professor Danuse Nerudova, who are the three leading contenders.
One candidate would need to secure more than 50% of the vote to win outright in the two-day first round, which is considered unlikely.
Otherwise, the top two candidates will face off in a second round on January 27-28.
Going into the vote, polls suggested that both Pavel and Nerudova would beat Babis if they faced him in the second round, while opinion polls differed on who was likely to secure the most votes in the first.
The first-round results are expected on Saturday evening.
Who are the main candidates?
A business tycoon and former prime minister, 68-year-old Babis is the country's fifth wealthiest person, according to Forbes magazine.
He told a final presidential TV debate Thursday that his experience as head of the government would help him in the new role.
"Everybody knows me, I will be very active and my advantage is I have experience from all sectors in the government," said Babis, who is the leader of the biggest opposition party in parliament.
However, he was accused by his rivals of presiding over "chaos" during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Petr Pavel, 61, is a former paratrooper who was decorated as a hero of the Serbo-Croatian war during which he helped to free French troops from a war zone.
He went on to be the chief of the Czech general staff and chair of NATO's military committee.
Addressing the same TV debate, Pavel said he would "restore dignity to the presidential office," after incumbent Zeman was accused of repeatedly exploiting constitutional loopholes to increase his influence.
Pavel also complained Friday on Twitter of a cyberattack on campaign websites, blaming Russian hackers for the incident.
Danuse Nerudova, the youngest frontrunner at 44, has a strong focus on social issues and is counting largely on the backing of younger voters.
She said a woman would bring a welcome change to the largely male-dominated world of Czech politics.
"There is a lot of aggression in our society and I think that a woman would bring empathy and more political culture," she said.
Five other candidates trail behind the top three, including two senators, a far-right lawmaker, a former university rector and an entrepreneur.
The center-right government does not have its own candidate but has endorsed Pavel, Nerudova and one other candidate.
What is the role of the Czech president?
The president's role is largely ceremonial, tasked with appointing the government, picking the governor of the central bank and constitutional judges.
The head of state also serves as the top commander of the armed forces.
The next president will be only the fourth since the Czech Republic was founded in 1993 following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The position was first held by Vaclav Havel for a decade after the 1993 break-up of Czechoslovakia. Economist Vaclav Klaus then served the maximum permitted period in the role.
Incumbent Zeman tried to build closer relations with China and Russia for most of his two five-year terms but has distanced himself from Moscow since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
mm/msh (AFP, dpa, Reuters)