Pavel collects more than required 50,000 candidates to stand for president

One of the favourites to become the next Czech president, Petr Pavel, says he has collected more than the 50,000 citizens’ signatures required to run. At a news conference on Tuesday the former Czech Army general and senior NATO official said his team was aiming to gather 70,000 signatures, just in case some were challenged by the Ministry of the Interior.

Mr. Pavel officially launched his campaign three weeks ago.

The election to succeed Miloš Zeman as head of state will take place in January.