Retired NATO general Petr Pavel has been elected as the new president of the Czech Republic after a landslide victory over the Slovak-born billionaire tycoon Andrej Babiš. Pavel, 61, took 57.6% of the vote, according to the initial results released by the state statistics office. More: - Pavel attracted
support from younger voters with liberal social policies, including
support for gay marriage, which is still banned in the Czech Republic.
- Babiš, the former prime minister, was accused of running a shameless campaign after portraying Pavel as a warmonger for his support of military aid to Ukraine.
- Pavel was surprised on the stage by fellow liberal and pro-western politician Zuzana Čaputová, Slovakia's president.
Zoom Out: - Earlier this week, Pavel had to deny allegations of his death,
spread by a counterfeit version of his campaign website registered
anonymously, with its emails routed through Russia's Yandex server.
- Babiš called for the police to investigate the fake death rumor as they did death threats against him.
- Babiš's tactics copied those of Hungary's PM, Viktor Orban, who won a landslide victory last April after falsely claiming that his main rival wanted to send Hungarian troops to fight Russia in Ukraine.
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