Retired Czech army general and candidate in the 2023 presedential election, Petr Pavel, votes in the village of Cernoucek as the polling stations have just opened for the election's first round. Pavel, 61, served as the chief of the Czech general staff and chair of NATO's military committee and is a former paratrooper decorated as a hero of the Serbo-Croatian war. He is facing a billionaire and an academic in a likely two-round vote seen as too close to call. IMAGES