The new head of state succeeds Milos Zeman as president of the V4 country.

Petr Pavel has won the Czech presidential election, radio.cz writes. The retired general defeated former Prime Minister Andrej Babis in the election. According to the portal’s article, with around 90 per cent of the votes counted, Petr Pavel was supported by more than 57 per cent of voters, while Babis received 42.9 per cent.

The former Czech premier has already congratulated his rival on Twitter.

Gratuluji @general_pavel k vítězství. A blahopřeji mu, že se stane příštím prezidentem České republiky.

— Andrej Babiš (@AndrejBabis) January 28, 2023

In the second round of voting (the first round was two weeks ago – ed.), voter turnout was a record high of nearly 70 per cent. The new president takes over from Milos Zeman, whose second term of office expires at the beginning of March. Under Czech law, the president cannot run for a third term.