Pavel votes in Czech presidential election

(13 Jan 2023)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Cernoucek, Czech Republic - 13 January 2023
1. Wide of Czech presidential candidate Petr Pavel casting his ballot
2. Wide of journalists
3. Wide of Pavel leaving polling station
4. SOUNDBITE (Czech) Petr Pavel, Czech presidential candidate:
“We are in the final part of the ten years period of Milos Zeman (presidency). We all have experienced the degradation of the presidential office. So primarily they (elections) will be about reestablishing its dignity and setting a normal course of communication in our country and also to achieving goals not by confrontation but by collaboration.”
5. Wide of Pavel walking down a street
6. Wide of Pavel's minivan with logo reading (Czech): “Let’s return to Czech Republic the order and peace”
7. Wide of woman in polling station
8. Close of voting committee table
9. Woman casting her ballot
10. SOUNDBITE (Czech) Jan Nemec, voter:
“I came to vote to get the strongest support for the Czech Republic and in my opinion the one who can win is Petr Pavel.”
11. Wide of woman casting ballot
12. Close of election committee member checking documents
13. Close of Czech flag on a polling station exterior
STORYLINE:
Czechs started voting for a new president, with populist billionaire Andrej Babis leading a field of eight candidates in a two-day election to succeed Milos Zeman in the largely ceremonial post.
Retired army Gen. Petr Pavel, 61, a former chairman of NATO’s military committee, and former university rector and economist Danuse Nerudova, 44, are Babis’ main challengers.
Babis, a former prime minister, was acquitted this week in a fraud trial, which boosted his chances of winning in the first round of the presidential election in voting on Friday and Saturday.
A court in Prague acquitted Babis, 68, on Monday of fraud charges in a $2 million case involving EU subsidies.
The prosecution still can appeal.
After casting his vote, Pavel said the country had "experienced the degradation of the presidential office."
"So primarily they (elections) will be about reestablishing its dignity and setting a normal course of communication in our country and also to achieving goals not by confrontation but by collaboration,” he added.
If no candidate achieves a majority, as polls have indicated, the top two finishers will face each other in a runoff in two weeks’ time.
The two political newcomers, Pavel and Nerudova, fully endorsed the country’s military and humanitarian support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia and see the Czech Republic’s future linked to membership in the EU and NATO.
Polls indicate that none of the remaining candidates is likely to make the runoff.
AP video by Jan Gebert
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[@jirikrajnak9047]

Pavel voted Pavel.