Presidential candidates say they want to be connecting society

Pavel said he does not see the elections as a fight of his voters against the other voters. "As a soldier I served all, I won't make any change in this," he said.

Babis also would like to be a president of all citizens. "I would like to draw a thick line and find agreement with Prime Minister Fiala and try to be connecting. I believe I would be able to do it," he said.

Pavel said Babis was a representative of chaos. He said this could be seen in how Babis's government ruled the country during the coronavirus epidemic.

Babis said on his billboards that Pavel as a soldier would drag the country into war. He today dismissed the view that he would be scaring people with war and try to turn Pavel into a warmonger.

Babis said his reaction was bad when he answered a question asked in a Sunday debate whether Czechia would send soldiers to Poland or the Baltic states if they were attacked and said no.

Pavel today gave Babis a framed North Atlantic Treaty Article 5 on collective defence.

Both candidates also spoke about their faith, their past and security affairs.

They agreed that if elected president, they would visit Kyiv. Pavel said if he were elected he would like to visit Ukraine together with Slovak President Zuzana Caputova.

They also discussed their former membership in the Czechoslovak Communist Party. Pavel said he never downplayed his past, he faced it openly and considered his membership a mistake. He said he never harmed anybody but he apologised to those to whom the Czechoslovak communist regime caused harm. Babis dismissed the idea that he had been a collaborator of the communist secret police StB, which is stated in archive documents. He rejected Pavel's accusation that he had cooperated with former communist secret police members when he started developing the Agrofert group.

Both Babis and Pavel called on the citizens to cast their votes. Pavel said people may decide whether to have a president who represented lies and distortion of facts or a president who respected values like honour, dignity and responsibility.

Babis also said in the debate that he is disappointed that the opposition movement Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) did not support him. he said he would like to appeal to its voters.

Babis again said his programme is to help people, fight for national interests and seek peace.

In the television studio, supporters of both candidates watched the debate, including their wives. Babis was accompanied by ANO leading politicians ANO Karel Havlicek, Alena Schillerova and Jana Mrackova Vildumetzova. Pavel's supporters had T-shirts with the word General and they often laughed when Babis said something, while Babis's supporters often clapped hands in such moments.

Political analyst Josef Mlejnek told CTK that neither of the candidates presented some new topic or new information, and so it cannot be expected that many voters would change their mind because of this debate.

Analyst Otto Eibl, from Masaryk University, said both Babis and Pavel seemed tired.

"Andrej Babis again showed his mastery in not answering questions and presenting his key topic which is peace. Pavel often fended off attacks, but he is already more biting. It could be said that he is fed up with Andrej Babis," Eibl said.

Eibl said the debate on Novinky.cz server seemed more important to him as Babis rejected the idea that the SPD movement could be a coalition partner of ANO. This may influence the election result as SPD leader Tomio Okamura immediately reacted to it, he said. "However, Babis may be aiming at some more distant target, it may be some strategy for the 2025 general election," Eibl said.

Mlejnek said Babis might appeal to voters by his attack on the Czech government over too high energy prices. He said he is surprised that Babis did not emphasised this in his campaign more.

Pavel and Babis will have their last television duel before the runoff in Nova television on Thursday evening.