The Czech Republic has elected a new president.

Petar Pavel won the runoff election with a convincing lead over the former prime minister - the billionaire Andrey Babish.

After processing 93% of the ballots, Pavel received 57.4% of the electoral votes compared to nearly 43% for his competitor.

Czech police are investigating threats against presidential candidate Babis

Peter Pavel is 61 years old and a former high-ranking general of the NATO command.

Former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis admitted his loss in the presidential elections in the Czech Republic and congratulated General Petar Pavel on his victory, BTA reported.

Babis did this during a speech to his supporters after almost all ballots from the presidential runoff had been counted. 

Former general Petar Pavel, who is a former chairman of the NATO Military Committee and a supporter of military aid to Ukraine, was elected president of the Czech Republic today, defeating former prime minister Andrej Babis in a runoff.

"I would like to thank the people who voted for me and also those who did not vote for me but exercised their right to vote, because in this way all these people respected democracy and showed that they care about what is going on is happening to the country," declared Pavel.

"I see that values ​​such as truth, dignity, respect and modesty won in these elections," the president-elect said.

Pavel will become the successor to the presidency of Milos Zeman, who maintained close relations with Moscow before Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February last year.

In the second round of the presidential elections, a voter turnout of 70.3% was reported.

The election campaign was extremely heated, with disputes over many issues, including Ukraine.

The campaign between the two rounds of elections was marked by a wave of disinformation directed against Pavel and by death threats against Babis and his family. 

"Our society is in a displaced sense hurt by the campaign for the presidential elections, by the numerous crises we have faced and are facing, but also by the political style that has dominated our country so far," Pavel pointed out.

"This has to change and you helped me take the first step on the road to change," said the winner of the election.

Pavel's inauguration ceremony will take place on March 9 in Prague, Czech state television reported, citing the speaker of the lower house of the Czech parliament, Marketa Pekarova Adamova.

presidential elections

Czech Republic

peter paul