In the second round of direct elections for the new president of the Czech Republic, the retired general, former head of the NATO Military Committee, Petr Pavel, is leading.

After counting the votes from 50 percent of the polling stations, Pavel leads with 55,25 percent of the votes won, while the former populist prime minister, leader of the opposition, the fifth richest billionaire in the Czech Republic, Andrej Babis (68) has 44,74 percent of the votes.

Models based on new technologies and artificial intelligence, which proved to be extremely accurate in the first election round 14 days ago, as the first votes come from the villages and smaller towns, where Babis has the main support, while Prague and the big cities are traditionally for the center right. , predict that the victory will go to General Pavel with over 58 to almost 60 percent of the votes.

This third direct election for the president of the Czech Republic is followed by great interest of the Czechs, the turnout reaching almost 70 percent of the 8,25 million registered voters.

After an unprecedentedly harsh campaign that Prime Minister Petr Fijala called "disgusting", both candidates promised not to behave like former US President Donald Trump and to respect the election result and appeal to their voters to respect the newly elected president.

The new president will take office in March, when the current president, Milos Zeman, ends his second, according to the Constitution, last presidential term.

The Czech president has little power, but the first three presidents, Václav Havel, Václav Klaus and Miloš Zeman, as prominent figures of the Czech Velvet Revolution and the transition to a market economy and democratic society, succeeded with personal authority, and Zeman, occasionally and openly disregarding the Constitution , to gain much more influence.

Petr Pavel is an independent candidate, liberal and pro-European oriented, while Andrej Babis supports outgoing President Zeman.