The first round of the presidential election is organized next Friday and Saturday in the Czech Republic where the campaign has focused a lot on the personality of the billionaire candidate and former Prime Minister. Leader of the first opposition party and often described as a populist, Andrej Babis is one of the favorites in the polls, even if these methods and these affairs are not appreciated in the big cities of the country, including Prague.
” Mr. Babis embarrasses me because of his past and his behavior says Natalie, a 32-year-old teacher, to Alexis Rosenzweig, RFI correspondent in Prague. His feeling is also that of many Czech voters, at least in the capital Prague, where the billionaire former Prime Minister Andrej Babis is perceived by the majority as a wheeler-dealer and opportunist.
Cleared this week by the Czech justice in a case of European subsidy fraud, Mr. Babis has just been received Tuesday, January 10 at the Elysee Palace by Emmanuel Macron, despite an investigation by the French National Financial Prosecutor’s Office concerning an opaque financial arrangement in the purchase of luxury real estate on the Côte d’Azur.
► To read also: Czech presidential election: Emmanuel Macron’s welcome to Andrej Babis arouses controversy
Just before the opening of the polls on Friday, Andrej Babis announced the sending to all Czech voters of a letter in which he offers them a “ contract which he undertakes to respect if he is elected president.
Against him, one of the main favorites is retired general Petr Pavel. In a campaign spot, one of the 53 French soldiers that the Czech general helped save in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s speaks. He intervenes between actors and other personalities from the Czech cultural world for whom Petr Pavel is the man for the job at a time when war is once again raging in Europe and very close to the country’s borders.
V TĚŽKÝCH ČASECH POTŘEBUJEME ZKUŠENÉ A KLIDNÉ VEDENÍ. V době války na Ukrajině a ekonomické krize potřebujeme prezidenta, který nebude zmatkovat. Když půjde do tuhého, povede zemi s chladnou hlavou, bude klidně komunikovat a udá jasný směr.
Děkuji všem, kteří mě podporují. pic.twitter.com/1Ds67ABPM0
— Petr Pavel (@general_pavel) January 2, 2023
► Read also: Politician and billionaire Babis acquitted in Prague in European fraud case
Another Czech presidential candidate is economist and academic Danuse Nerudova. If elected, she would be the country’s first female president, and also the youngest Czech head of state in history (44).
On January 8, 2023, Josef Stredula supported by the Czech social democratic party CSSD renounced his candidacy for the presidency, and expressed his support for Danuse Nerudova who is not affiliated with a party. Danuse Nerudova, a pro-Western, is particularly popular among young voters thanks to her principled views on LGBT+ rights and the green energy transition.