San Francisco Frontiers - Ex-paratrooper favourite to sweep Czech presidential vote

Analysts predicted high turnout for the two-day vote, after an acrimonious campaign marked by controversial stances.

Pavel, a former paratrooper, topped the most recent opinion polls with 58 to 59 percent support, compared with 41 to 42 percent for Babis.

The victor will replace Milos Zeman, an outspoken and divisive politician who fostered close ties with Moscow before making a U-turn when Russia invaded Ukraine last year.

Casting his vote in the tiny northern village of Cernoucek, Pavel said he wanted to be "a dignified president" for the country, an EU and NATO member of 10.5 million people.

"I won't offer you pie in the sky, but instead I'll describe reality as it is," he said.

Babis, whose wealth and legal headaches have made him a divisive figure, called the election "a referendum on Babis" as he voted in Pruhonice, just south of Prague.

Pavel edged ahead of Babis at 35.4 percent to 35 percent in the first round of voting two weeks ago, wooing voters with his no-nonsense rhetoric.

Babis is banking on support from his centre-left ANO movement, but experts say he has turned off some voters with chaotic diatribes in campaign debates.

Since the first round of voting, Babis and his family have been targeted by death threats, while Pavel was the victim of a hoax claiming he was dead.

"Quite frankly, if the polls are well conducted, I think it will be hard for Babis to come back," said Tomas Lebeda, a political scientist at Palacky University.

While the role is largely ceremonial, the Czech president names the government, picks the central bank governor and constitutional judges, and serves as commander of the armed forces.

- NATO remarks -

Pavel, 61, was decorated as a hero in the Serbo-Croatian war, when he helped free French troops from a war zone.

He rose to chief of the Czech general staff and chair of NATO's military committee.

Like Babis, Pavel was a member of the Communist Party in the 1980s, when Czechoslovakia was ruled by Moscow-steered communists.

Babis went on to become the fifth wealthiest person in the Czech Republic, according to Forbes magazine, as owner of the Agrofert food, chemicals and media group.

The 68-year-old, who served as prime minister from 2017 until 2021, stirred controversy at the tail end of the campaign by saying he would not send troops to fellow NATO members Poland and the Baltics if they were attacked.

He later walked back the comments, which go against NATO's collective defence protocol, but not before he had garnered criticism from all four countries.

Tereza Branis, casting her vote for Pavel at a school in Prague on Friday, said she wanted a "reliable" president.

"He should represent us so that other countries could rely on us and we on them," she told AFP.

Outside the same school, voter Honza Sobotka said the new president should "try to find a better path for his people than Mr Zeman who has been practically invisible".

"The Czech Republic will stay pro-Western," he told AFP.

Polling stations will reopen at 8:00 am (0700 GMT) on Saturday and close at 2:00 pm, with final results expected shortly afterwards.

S.Jackson--SFF