Daily Times

A billionaire, a general and an academic are favourites going into the first round of the Czech presidential election that begins Friday and concludes on Saturday and is seen by observers as too close to call. The winner will replace Milos Zeman, an outspoken political veteran known for enjoying a drink, following a period marked by the country’s 2022 EU presidency as the war in Ukraine raged. The victor will face record inflation and bulging public finance deficits because of the war in Ukraine. Unless a candidate wins more than 50 percent in the first round, which is considered unlikely, a second round will pit the top two contenders on January 27-28.

“If you asked me to place a bet (on the result), I wouldn’t,” Metropolitan University Prague analyst Petr Just told AFP. Populist ex-prime minister Andrej Babis, retired general Petr Pavel and university professor Danuse Nerudova are vying to become only the fourth president since the Czech Republic was founded in 1993 following the Soviet Union’s fall. Business tycoon and former prime minister Babis, 68, is the fifth wealthiest person in the Czech Republic, according to Forbes magazine. General Pavel, 61, is a former paratrooper who was decorated as a hero of the Serbo-Croatian war during which he helped to free French troops from a war zone.