Police in the Czech Republic have opened an investigation into an anonymous letter against presidential candidate and former prime minister Andrej Babis just days before the runoff election in an increasingly rarefied environment.
The letter, addressed Thursday to Babis’ wife, contained insults and what appears to be a bullet, the candidate himself explained at a press conference reported by Czech news agency CTK.
Babis, a tycoon who founded the center-right populist Alliance of Disgruntled Citizens (ANO) party in 2011, has repudiated the threats as has his main rival in the second round on the 28th, retired general Petr Pavel, who has nevertheless accused Babis of straining the atmosphere with his aggressive campaign.
«This kind of thing has no place in a democratic election, but the atmosphere is tense mainly because of the voter intimidation that Babis is leading,» Pavel explained.
The former prime minister is being criticized for exacerbating fears of an expanding war in Ukraine but Babis defends that he is only trying to get his message across to bet on a dialogue solution to the conflict.
The current head of the Czech government, Petr Fiala, has also condemned the missive. «It is necessary to unequivocally condemn any violence, whether direct or in the form of threats. Such things have no place in the Czech Republic. We are and must remain a civilized and democratic country,» he said.
PAVEL AHEAD IN POLLS Pavel now enjoys 57.6 percent support ahead of the runoff compared to Babis’ 42.4 percent, according to a poll conducted by STEM earlier this week and published by CNN Prima News this Sunday.
In a separate Kantar poll for public television and picked up by the DPA agency, Pavel got 53 percent and Babis 38 percent, with 9 percent still undecided.
The winner of the vote will become the fourth head of state in the Central European nation since the fall of communism. He will succeed President Milos Zeman, who has antagonized his European Union allies with his support for Vladimir Putin until the invasion of Ukraine, and political rivals at home by bending constitutional conventions.
Pavel, running as an independent, has promised a less confrontational stance than Zeman. The retired general won the backing of several presidential candidates who collectively received more than 20 percent in the first round. Pavel, also a former chairman of NATO’s Military Committee, has pledged to promote LGBTQ rights, such as same-sex marriage.
Babis, who as prime minister clashed with the EU over migration policies and allegations of conflict of interest regarding his businesses, is seeking to return to high office following his defeat in the 2021 parliamentary elections.
The former prime minister is also campaigning to become a counterweight to Fiala’s center-right coalition, which he accuses of not doing enough to help people and businesses cope with the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades.
The Czech Republic’s parliamentary system gives limited powers to the presidency, with key executive authority in the hands of the government. But the head of state has certain powers in setting up the cabinet, running the army, choosing central bankers and appointing judges.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
