Retired Czech general Pavel won the presidential elections
PRAGUE, 28 january (Reuters) – Former military chief Peter Pavel NATO and Europe held in the Czech Republic on Saturday after a campaign that showed strong support for the EU and support for aid to Ukraine the president won the elections.
A 61-year-old retiree running for president for the first time general Pavel is a former billionaire who dominates almost all constituencies but is a polarizing force Prime Minister Andrej Babis was poised to win over 58% of the vote. in Czech politics for ten years.
Pavel, who campaigned as an independent and won the support of the center-right government, delivered a message of unity and calm in the community as the results showed his victory at the Prague concert venue on Saturday.
“Values such as truth, dignity, respect and humility have won,” Pavel told his supporters and journalists. “I am convinced that these values are shared by the vast majority of us, it is worth making them a part of our lives and at the same time trying to bring them back to Prague Castle and our politics.”
Czech presidents don’t have many day-to-day duties, but they are prime ministers and central bank they choose their leaders, have a say in foreign policy, are strong opinion makers and can push the government into politics.
Pavel will take office in March, replacing Milos Zeman, who has been in power for two terms in the past decade and supported Babis as his successor. substitute will do.
Zeman Russia Before its invasion of Ukraine, it sought closer ties with Beijing and also with Moscow, and Pavel’s election would mark a dramatic change.
Babis, 68, a militant business tycoon who heads the largest opposition party in parliament, attacked Pavel as the government’s candidate. He tried to woo voters struggling with rising prices by promising to force the government to do more to help them.
Babis and Prime Minister Petr Fiala congratulated Pavel on Saturday.
CLEAR THE RESULT
The result of the election will be official only when it is published in the legal journal on Tuesday, but the pollflour the result was already known on Saturday.
Pavel 10,5 million center Europe of the country European Union and NATO military supports its strong hold on the union and supports the government’s continued aid to Ukraine following Russia’s invasion last year.
He favors the adoption of the euro, a topic that has been put on the back burner by successive governments, and supports gay marriage and other progressive policies.
A career soldier, Pavel joined the army during the communist era and was awarded the French Medal for his bravery as a peacekeeper in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. military who was awarded the cross and later headed the Czech General Staff and three years ago NATOof military was the chairman of the committee. 2018retires in
“I voted for Mr. Pavel because he is a decent and reasonable person and I think the younger generation has a future with him,” Abdulai Diop, 60, said after voting in Prague on Saturday.
Babis had campaigned on fears of war spreading to Ukraine, and that Pavel, as a former soldier, could drag the Czechs into war. offer while mediating peace talks offer tried to do, Pavel rejected this claim.
Reporting by Robert Muller, Jason Hovet and Jan Lopatka; Added by Jiri Skacel report; Edited by Hugh Lawson and David Holmes
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2023-01-28 19:46:23
Source – reuters
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