Presidential election: Babiš now polling first

ANO party Chairman Andrej Babiš is now the favourite in the upcoming Czech presidential election according to a Data Collect and Kantar poll conducted for Czech Television. Mr Babiš polled at 27 percent with retired general Petr Pavel falling into second place with 26.5 percent of respondents saying they would vote for him. Economist and former rector of the Mendel University in Brno Danuše Nerudová came in third, with 23.5 percent of the hypothetical vote.

However, in terms of voting potential, a statistic that takes into account the respondents who said they are still considering whether to vote for a given candidate, Petr Pavel is still in the lead with 37.5 percent, followed by Mr Babiš at 33.5 percent and Ms. Nerudová on 24.5 percent.

Senators Pavel Fischer and Marek Hilšer polled at 5.5 and 4 percent respectively, with trade union leader Josef Středula also polling at 4 percent.

Czechia is set to elect its new president in January of next year.