With Babiš’s victory the Czech Republic looks set to join Hungary and Slovakia in refusing support for Ukraine
Populist billionaire Andrej Babiš has won the Czech Republic parliamentary elections, preliminary results show, but fallen short of the overall majority.
This
win marks a political comeback for Babiš, who was prime minister from
2017 to 2021. He is set to put the country on a course away from
supporting Ukraine and towards Hungary and Slovakia, who have taken a
pro-Russian path.
With the votes from almost 98% of polling stations counted by the Czech
statistics office, Babiš’s ANO (YES) party captured 35% of the vote,
followed by the pro-western coalition of the prime minister, Petr Fiala,
with 23.0%. The coalition defeated Babiš in the 2021 election.
The two-day election filled 200 seats in the
lower house of the Czech parliament. A group of mayors known as STAN,
also a member of Fiala’s government, received 11.1% of the vote, with
another ally of Fiala, the Pirates party, getting an 8.7% share.
Babiš,
a self-proclaimed “Trumpist”, was all smiles and hailed the “historic
result” as “the absolute peak” of his political career. Voter turnout
for this election was high, at almost 69%.
As Babiš’s ANO did not win the overall majority,
the 71-year-old is expected to be invited to lead talks in forming a new
coalition. He has already ruled out cooperation with any of the parties
that have been in the government after the 2021 election.
His
potential partners include the fringe parties Freedom and Direct
Democracy (SPD), an anti-immigration party that won 7.9% of the vote,
and a rightwing group called the Motorists, which received 6.8%
He may need to form an alliance with both parties
to be able to hold the overall majority. “We will definitely lead talks
with the SPD and the Motorists and seek a single-party government led
by ANO,” Babiš said.
During its election
campaign, ANO advocated for increased welfare spending and a reduction
in foreign aid, including donations to Ukraine. It also promised higher
wages and pensions, and lower taxes and tax discounts for students and
young families – all in hope of ending austerity.
An ally of the Hungarian leader, Viktor Orbán, Babiš has teamed up with a number of far-right parties in the Patriots for Europe group in the European parliament to challenge the mainstream direction of Europe’s policies, including decarbonisation.
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