Czechia Resolutely Defends Western Values With President-elect Pavel

With a massive turnout, the Czechs made it clear they want to belong to a democratic Europe

30 January 2023

Marco Németh

Marcin Król Fellow

Populism in the Czech Republic was dealt a massive blow over the weekend when the billionaire and former PM Andrej Babiš was defeated by Petr Pavel. The final tally and voter turnout sent a resounding message of support to the West and Brussels and a clear signal that Prague is cementing it’s position as a democratic centre of Central Europe.

Petr Pavel’s road to victory was not as clear cut as the results from this weekend would have you think.

Despite the Czech Republic commemorating its 30th anniversary this month, it has only elected its president directly three times, including this weekend’s elections. One of the highest voter turnouts since the country’s independence – a staggering 70.25 per cent – demonstrates how much the society is drawn to the presidential elections in this CE nation; notwithstanding the fact that the president’s primary responsibility under the constitution is to represent the nation.

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Marco Németh

Marcin Król Fellow

Marco is a Slovak journalist, focusing on EU policies, democracy, Central Europe and foreign affairs. He was the youngest and most passionate activist in the 2019 European elections. From 2020 he works with the Slovak newspaper Európske Noviny. When he was 15 years old he published his first book “Európa v Kocke” in which he explains how the EU works.

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