Petr Pavel, war hero elected Czech president

Retired NATO general Petr Pavel gives a speech to his crowd of supporters after winning the Czech presidential election.

Pavel, a former paratrooper, won 58 percent of votes while his rival billionaire former prime minister Andrej Babis scored 42 percent, with 99 percent of the vote counted, according to the Czech Statistical Office.

Retired general Petr Pavel, who won the Czech presidential election, is a war hero with a passion for motorcycles.

Pavel beat billionaire former prime minister Andrej Babis to become the Czech Republic's fourth president since independence in 1993.

True to his military past, the 61-year-old has vowed to "restore order" in the EU and NATO members of 10.5 million people if elected.

"I can't ignore the fact that people here increasingly feel chaos, disorder and uncertainty. That the state has somehow ceased to function," Pavel said.

"We need to change this. We need to play by the rules, which will be valid for everyone alike. We need a general sweep," he added.

Born on November 1, 1961, Pavel attended both a military grammar school and a military university in the former Czechoslovakia, which was then ruled by Moscow-backed communists.

Andrej Babis admits defeat in the Czech presidential election. The billionaire former prime minister congratulated former NATO general Petr Pavel.