Presidents in the NATO and European Union member country do not hold daily executive powers but appoint prime ministers, central bankers and judges, and have a say in foreign affairs.

Polls opened at 2 p.m. (1300 GMT) and voting wraps up at 2 p.m. on Saturday, with results expected to come in later that day.

Retired General Petr Pavel, 61, running as an independent, led two out of four final polls.

Former prime minister Andrej Babis, 68, a billionaire heading the biggest opposition party in parliament was ahead in the other two.

Babis has framed the vote as a protest against the centre-right government he accuses of doing too little to help people handle soaring living costs.

"My slogan is 'Help the people'," Babis said in his only television debate on Thursday evening.

"This asocial government...says we are not going to give money to people, we don't have the money, and under pressure they give it out too late."

The government does not have its own candidate but has endorsed Pavel as well as economics professor Danuse Nerudova, 44, who was third in final polls, and one other candidate among the total of eight in the running.

No candidate is seen as winning over 50% in the first round, with a run-off between the top two likely to follow in two weeks.

Only Pavel, Babis and Nerudova have a chance of making it to the second round, polls show. There pollsters give Pavel an edge, expecting him to gather more votes from other candidates than Babis. Betting agency Fortuna saw Pavel as favourite at 1-1.42 to win ahead of Babis at 1-3.50.

Nerudova would be the first woman in the job, first held by Vaclav Havel after the 1993 break-up of Czechoslovakia and now occupied by Milos Zeman, who tried to build closer relations with China and Russia for most of his two five-year terms.

** Click here for an interactive graphic:

PAVEL DOUBTS VISEGRAD GROUP

A friend of Hungarian leader Viktor Orban, Babis visited French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday to demonstrate his wider connections in Europe.

Pavel has distanced himself from Orban, who has squared off with EU partners over rule of law, and said differences over values raised the question of whether to leave the central Europe's Visegrad Group, which also includes Poland and Slovakia.

Pavel and Nerudova have spoken in favour of adopting the euro, and the tradition of Havel's human rights-led foreign policy.

While in power in 2017-2021, Babis was found in conflict of interest by the European Commission due to subsidies paid to his Agrofert business empire, which is in a trust. He was cleared this week in an EU subsidy fraud case.

Babis has been the most lukewarm in supporting Ukraine among top candidates, calling for peace talks and, unlike the other frontrunners, speaking against more weapons supplies to Ukraine while campaigning. But that policy is in the hands of the government, which has been among Kyiv's most steadfast supporters.

Pavel has both a Soviet-era and Western military education, has served in a peacekeeping mission in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, and led NATO's military committee in 2015-2018 which advises the alliance's general secretary.

** Click here for an interactive graphic:

(Reporting by Jan Lopatka and Jason HovetEditing by Tomasz Janowski)

By Jan Lopatka