Victory, Czech!

Betty Henderson

THE hotly­contested Czech leadership election came to an end on Friday, January 27, with former army general, NATO commander and pro­western politician, Petr Pavel sweeping to power.

Pavel won the election with 58.3 per cent of votes, a landslide victory over rival and former Prime Minister, Andrej Babiš who won 41.68 per cent of the vote. The result is the most decisive victory ever recorded in a Czech leadership election.

Russia’s invasion of

Ukraine appears to have been a key factor in making voters’ minds up in this year’s elections. Pavel’s victory over Babiš, a populist billionaire, has been widely seen as a victory for liberal democracy.

The two leaders repeatedly butted heads in the leadership contest where Babiš’ strong opinions, including saying he would not send troops to defend ally Poland in the event of Russian invasion appears to have backfired.

Pavel attracted support from younger and more liberal swathes of the pop­