Who is Petr Pavel? The former NATO general & Ukraine supporter is the new Czech President

Petr Pavel, a 61-year-old former general who has a background in peacekeeping and serving as a top-level NATO general, has been voted as the Czech President. He defeated the billionaire ex-prime minister Andrej Babiš in the election. With 97 percent of the votes counted by the Czech Statistics Office, Pavel received 57.8 percent of the vote while Babiš received 42.2 percent. Although the Czech President has limited power in day-to-day matters, Pavel will have a significant influence over foreign policy, government opinion, and the ability to appoint key positions such as prime ministers, constitutional judges, and central bankers, as per a report by Euro news.

He has promised to bring "order" to the Czech Republic, which has been struggling with economic turmoil and high inflation due to the war in Ukraine. Pavel stated on his campaign website that people in the Czech Republic are increasingly feeling chaos, disorder and uncertainty, and that the state has somehow ceased to function and that needs to change and needs to play by the rules, which will be valid for everyone alike. He added that the country needs a general sweep.

Petr Pavel's past

Pavel followed in his father's footsteps by pursuing a military education in Czechoslovakia during the communist era. He joined the Communist Party, like his billionaire rival Babiš, and quickly progressed through the army ranks, training to become an intelligence agent for the regime. Critics have criticized him for his communist past, but Pavel has defended himself by stating that party membership was "normal" in his family and that it was a "mistake." After the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, Pavel abandoned his party membership but continued with the intelligence course. During the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, Pavel, who was trained as an elite paratrooper and held the rank of Lieutenant Colonel at the time, helped evacuate French troops trapped in the midst of combat between Croats and ethnic Serb paramilitaries in Croatia, which earned him the French Military Cross for bravery.

Retired Czech general Aleš Opata, who served with Pavel, said: "We got into several tense situations and he always managed them with deliberation and calm". After his service, Pavel went on to study at military training schools in Britain and earned a master's degree from King's College London. After Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999, Pavel advanced quickly through the ranks of the alliance and ultimately became its top military official in 2015. He retired in 2018 with a chest full of decorations.

Petr Pavel's political views

Pavel ran as an independent candidate and was the strongest among the three candidates supported by the liberal-conservative coalition SPOLU led by the former President Miloš Zeman. He advocated for a more equitable distribution of wealth and higher taxes on the rich, while also supporting progressive policies such as same-sex marriage and euthanasia. Pavel has positioned himself as a counterbalance to populism and wants to keep the Czech Republic aligned with NATO and the European Union. Despite his stance on Ukraine, his political rivals have alleged that he would lead the country into war with Russia, which he denies. He is known for his love of motorcycling and for being a polyglot, speaking Czech, English, French and Russian. He holds a concealed weapon license, is married to a fellow soldier, and often dressed in jeans and a leather jacket.