Pavel and Babiš meet in another in series of debates

The two candidates for Czech president, Petr Pavel and Andrej Babiš, faced off in the latest in a series of debates on Wednesday. The discussion for new site Novinky.cz had been postponed from Monday as Mr. Pavel was unwell.

Mr. Babiš reiterated his assertion that he is running a positive campaign. He said his press conference after the first round, in which he compared Mr. Pavel to Vladimir Putin, had not gone well as he was over emotional. He also said it had been a mistake to say that Czechia should not help Poland or the Baltics if they were invaded.

Mr. Pavel said his opponent had frequently lied during his campaign and described him as a chaotic micro-manager.

Mr. Babiš also said his ANO party would not consider the anti-EU Freedom and Direct Democracy as a coalition partner.

Voters will decide between the two in a runoff on Friday and Saturday, with the results due on Saturday afternoon.