Ex-Nato commander wins presidency in landslide

Petr Pavel, a retired general and former senior Nato commander, has swept to the presidency after a landslide victory over the former prime minister Andrej Babiš in an election overshadowed by rows over the war between Russia and Ukraine.

With nearly all the votes counted, returns showed Pavel prevailing by the emphatic margin of 58.3% to 41.68%, the largest ever recorded in a Czech presidential poll.

Pavel’s supporters hailed the result as a victory for liberal democracy. Pavel, 61, called his win a victory for “truth, dignity, respect and humility” and vowed to seek national unity after an election campaign that has been widely denounced as bitterly divisive.