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Czech Republic: A billionaire and former secret service agent in the presidential election

Czech Republic: A billionaire and former secret service agent in the presidential election

The presidential elections begin in the Czech Republic. The race is likely to be close and a runoff will follow. The three favourites: the controversial ex-head of government and billionaire Andrej Babis, ex-general Petr Pavel and the economist Danuse Nerudova.

The week started well for Andrej Babis. A court in Prague acquitted the former prime minister and multi-billionaire on Monday of allegations of subsidy fraud with EU funds. And that a few days before the presidential elections in the Czech Republic, in which Babis is a candidate. His chances are not bad. A total of eight candidates stand for election, including one woman. The 68-year-old Babis is one of the three favourites.

According to polls, it will be a neck-and-neck race. To win, someone would have to get an absolute majority. It doesn’t look like that at the moment. The two-day election, which begins this Friday afternoon, is likely to end in a runoff on January 27th and 28th.

A successor will be elected for Milos Zeman. He may not run again after two electoral terms. The 78-year-old, who claims to drink six glasses of wine and three schnapps a day, is in poor health. His unstable condition has been a topic time and again in recent years – in the media and in politics.

Zeman exercised his office with a certain arbitrariness. He was testing the limits of his role. Actually, this is primarily of a ceremonial nature, but not entirely without power either: the President of the Czech Republic appoints the government, appoints the head of the central bank and the constitutional judges and is the supreme commander of the armed forces. Zeman maintained friendly relations with Vladimir Putin, but turned his back on Putin after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, calling him a madman.

Presidential election in the Czech Republic: how should support for Ukraine continue?

Ukraine was one of the big issues in this election campaign. Support for the country remains high among the Czech population. There are many points of contact and a lot of solidarity. Not least because numerous Ukrainians had come to the Czech Republic in the years before the Russian war of aggression. In the 2021 census, the proportion of foreigners in the Czech Republic was 4.7 percent, with Ukrainian citizenship being the most common at 1.4 percent.

The Czech Republic was the first country to deliver arms to Ukraine after the outbreak of war. The population also collected money for a tank and the Czech Republic’s satirical annexation of Russia’s Kaliningrad went viral – even the national weather forecast joined in.

But there are also critical voices. Tens of thousands demonstrated in autumn on Wenceslas Square in Prague, according to official figures 70,000 people. “The Czech Republic first” was their motto, and the end of the government’s Ukraine policy was a demand. The Czech economy is struggling, the inflation rate for the whole of last year was 15.1 percent. Accordingly, inflation was also an issue in this election campaign.

As far as the attitude towards Ukraine is concerned, ex-Prime Minister Babis attracted attention with his tumbles. He expressed himself with vague sentences like this: “We should coordinate our aid with the EU and NATO countries.” On the stance on Ukraine, Czech Radio places Babis among the four candidates who either refuse to help Ukraine or give no concrete answers.

The controversial ex-Prime Minister Andrej Babis

Babis attach this vagueness, the accusation of being an opportunist and populist. However, experts do not see him as an ideologue, but above all as an entrepreneur. His ANO protest movement started left of center, then fished off to the right. When he entered the political arena, some nicknamed him Babisconi, a Berlusconi of the Czech Republic. Like the Italian, Babis is also a media mogul. Viktor Orban, the right-wing, anti-EU Hungarian prime minister, is a friend of Babis. During his tenure as Czech Prime Minister from 2017 to 2021, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets against him over allegations of fraud.

The Czech newspaper Hospodarske noviny did not take good care of him after Babis’ acquittal earlier this week: that he is criminally innocent does not mean that in most people’s eyes he appears pure as a lily in every respect. There was talk of a “colossal conflict of interest as an entrepreneur and politician” and “his misuse of his own media for his election campaigns”. And that’s just a snippet.

Ex-General Petr Pavel and his past as a secret service agent

Babis was also criticized during this election campaign because of his communist past as an alleged secret service agent. He denies the cooperation – although the responsible documentation authority considers a falsification of the file to be unlikely, as “Die Zeit” writes. However, Babis was not alone in this election campaign with this criticism of his past.

Competitor Petr Pavel also has to deal with such allegations. He stands by it and shows remorse. As “Die Zeit” reports, Pavel was prepared in 1989 for use in the military intelligence service. The training would have enabled him to become a diplomat in the uniform of communist Czechoslovakia and for covert espionage abroad. Today he describes his past as a mistake.

Petr Pavel, candidate for the presidential elections in the Czech Republic, speaks to journalists

Pavel made a career in the military. The former general headed NATO’s military committee from 2015 to 2018. As a highly decorated elite paratrooper, he once helped liberate French troops from a Serbian-Croatian war zone. The 61-year-old advertises that he will “restore order” and lead the Czech Republic calmly and with experience. He unequivocally supports the continuation of diplomatic, financial and military aid to Ukraine.

Danuse Nerudova would be the first woman to hold the post

And then there is Danuse Nerudova, the third in the group of favorites in this presidential election in the Czech Republic. At 44, she is the youngest of the eight candidates. And she’s the only woman. If she wins, she would be the country’s first female president.

Danuse Nerudova, candidate for the presidential elections in the Czech Republic.  She would be the first woman to hold that position.

Nerudova is a professor of economics and was rector of the university in her hometown of Brno, the second largest city in the Czech Republic, from 2018 to 2022. Her election campaign took place mainly on social networks. She relies primarily on young voters. And she promises to “put the ego aside” and “speak to all groups of people.” The Czech Republic must become a modern country where everyone has a chance of success. Like Petr Pavel, she is clear about further aid for the war-torn Ukraine.

However, the scientist is also stuck with a scandal: At the University of Brno, foreign students are said to have received titles in the fast track for agency fees, reports “Die Zeit”. According to media reports, this was the result of an investigation by the Czech university accreditation authority. Nerudova shifts the responsibility for this to the deans of the affected faculties.

Eight candidates, three favourites, entangled pasts, a tense economic situation – it will be an exciting election weekend in the Czech Republic. Results are expected on Saturday evening.

Sources: , (I), (II), , (I), (II) , with material from AFP and dpa

Source: Stern

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