Poll places former army general in the lead for presidency

Former prime minister and ANO party leader Andrej Babiš would win the first round of Czechia’s presidential elections with 25.5 percent of the vote, according to a Median poll published on Wednesday.

Mr Babiš was followed by retired general and former chairman of the NATO Military Committee Petr Pavel, who won 21 percent of the hypothetical vote. However, General Pavel would beat Mr Babiš if the two faced each other off in a second round of the elections, with Pavel being preferred by 59.5 percent of respondents and the ANO chairman by 40.5 percent. Nevertheless, a quarter of the people who were surveyed said that they were still unsure about who they would vote for in the second round.

Polling in joint third place are Senator Marek Hilšer and economist Danuše Nerudova, who both received 7.5 percent of the hypothetical vote.

Median conducted the poll at the turn of July and August.