Retired army General Petr Pavel and populist billionaire Andrej Babis have advanced to the second round of the Czech presidential election. Neither of the eight candidates received a majority of votes in the initial round, which was held on Friday and Saturday.

With 99.9% of the ballots counted by the Czech Statistics Office, Pavel received 35.39% of the vote, while Babis received 35.00%. Pavel, a former chairman of NATO’s military committee, fully endorses the country’s military and humanitarian support for Ukraine and sees the Czech Republic’s future linked to EU and NATO membership.

Babis, who was a member of the Communist Party before the 1989 Velvet Revolution, has criticized Pavel for his past as a soldier and a Communist Party member. The second round of voting will take place in two weeks.

Article by Prague Forum