Babiš saved ammunition, before the second round he will attack Pavle like Zeman, says the political scientist
Petr Pavel or Andrej Babiš will become the president after the elections. The retired general and former head of the NATO Military Committee had 35.39 percent of the votes after counting almost one hundred percent of the precincts, followed closely by the head of the ANO movement Babiš with 35 percent. Danuša Nerudová, the former rector of the Mendel University, will be third with a considerable distance, with less than 14 percent. Voter turnout was a record, exceeding 68 percent.
“The second half is starting. Andrej Babiš can’t play without a breakdown,” said Petr Pavel regarding the interim results of the first round. | Video: CTK
After announcing the interim results, Petr Pavel first thanked the voters. He was pleased that the turnout was about five percentage points higher than in the previous presidential elections. “I would also like to thank my opponents for the course of the campaign so far, even if there were occasional sparks, it was mostly conducted very correctly. This is proof that things are not so bad with our political culture,” said Pavel.
Historically, the third direct election of the president will once again have a second round. It will take place in two weeks, on January 27 and 28. “There is no reason to celebrate, there is a reason to start the second half, which will be much more demanding than the first,” Pavel pointed out.
According to him, it will be decided whether the voters will believe the “planned promises” of Andrej Babiš or decide whether to elect them. “I am ready to add and point to a specific danger that would flow from the eventual election of Andrej Babiš,” said Pavel. He added that with Babiš there would be a danger of the Czech Republic leaning towards the East.
In his speech after the elections, Andrej Babiš congratulated Pavlov, but at the same time criticized him at length for, among other things, his communist past and for supporting the government of Petr Fiala (ODS). “If Mr. Pavel is at the Castle, it will certainly not be good for our citizens. I think that he will only carry out the will of the government, his sponsors and maybe someone else there,” said Babiš.
The second round will not have a clear favorite, thinks political scientist Jakub Charvát from Jan Evangelista Purkyně University. “It is more likely that Petr Pavel will be the next president, when we look at the multitude of other candidates who express their support for him. But at the same time, we have the experience of the 2018 elections, when it looked like Jiří Drahoš would win, but Miloš Zeman eventually we managed to attract voters to our side,” Charvát recalled.
According to him, a similar procedure can be expected from Babiš as in the case of Zeman, who also did not appear in public much before the first round, and then started a sharp campaign against Drahoš. “Andrej Babiš saved his main ammunition against Petr Pavl. But the ammunition against Andrej Babiš has already been fired over the years. So Pavel will have to come with a more positive program before the second round,” the political scientist points out.
Nerudová will support Pavel
Economist and former rector of the Mendel University Danuše Nerudová took third place, receiving approximately 14 percent of the vote. After the results were announced, she said that her double-digit result can be an inspiration for other women to enter politics.
She congratulated Pavlov on his progress. “I’ve said repeatedly that I wouldn’t have a problem supporting him in the second round. We’ll talk tonight about what the options are, and I think we’ll continue to present some results together after that,” she said.
Neruda’s result lags behind her preferences from the latest public opinion polls. Since November, she has regularly won over 20 percent in them and, along with Pavlo and Babiš, was among the popular choices. “Maybe we aimed too much at the young generation and neglected the others. We still have to analyze the results,” added Nerudová to her result. “I will not disappear from public space,” she promised.
“Danuše Nerudová was an interesting candidate until someone started confronting her with anything. In the debates, she did not confirm the image she had created around herself, as a result, it cost her half of the support,” comments political scientist Charvát.
Senator Pavel Fischer is fourth, according to the almost final results, with roughly 6.8 percent. He stated that the election results were not good for the Czechia, and gave unequivocal support to Petr Pavl.
Jaroslav Bašta, deputy of the Freedom and Direct Democracy movement, for whom 4.5 percent of voters voted, finished in fifth place. leading senator Marek Hilšer with a profit of 2.5 percent. He called his result a loss and made Petr Pavla into the second round.
The same was done by businessman Karel Diviš, who was voted for by roughly 1.3 percent of voters. Tomáš Zima, the former rector of Charles University, finished last with half a percent of the votes. The original ninth candidate, trade union leader Josef Středula, withdrew from the election on Sunday and endorsed Nerudová.
Results of the 1st round of presidential elections in the districts
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Photo: Aktuálně.cz