Retired general Petr Pavel held a 15 percentage point lead over former Czech prime minister Andrej Babis heading into a presidential run-off vote on Friday and Saturday, a Czech Television poll showed on Saturday.
The two are squaring off in a second-round vote starting on Friday after Pavel narrowly won over billionaire Babis in the first round of the election at the weekend, although neither scored a majority of votes.
The poll showed Pavel leading with 53 percent compared with 38 percent for Babis, with 9 percent undecided.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The expected turnout could hit 84 percent in the poll, the highest ever in a Czech presidential vote, the survey found.
The post does not carry executive authority, but has significant powers in appointing prime ministers, central bank chiefs and nominating judges for the constitutional court.
Presidents also have a limited say in foreign affairs.
Pavel, a former general who held a senior NATO military job, and combative opposition leader Babis, who served as prime minister from 2017 to 2021, would likely be more pro-Western than Czech President Milos Zeman.
Pavel, 61, is strongly pro-Western and supports further military aid for Ukraine as well as adoption of the euro.
Babis, 68, who built a chemicals, farming and media empire now registered in trust funds, shares Zeman’s warm relations with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has been at odds with the EU over the rule of law.
Babis has also spoken in the past against Ukraine military aid and has touted ambitions to organize a peace summit while attacking Pavel in the past week for being pro-war.
Pavel, endorsed by the center-right government, has accused Babis of fear mongering.
Some voters have also voiced frustration that both first-round winners were members of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia prior to the end of its rule in 1989.
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