Billionaire Andrej Babiš made another populist politician in Central Europe make a political return by coming out big in the Czech Republic’s parliamentary election, according to almost complete results on 4th October.
That outcome might lead the country away from backing Ukraine and towards Hungary and Slovakia, which have gone the pro-Russian route.
With the outcome of 99.5% of the polling stations known by the Statistics Office, Babiš’s ANO (YES) movement won 34.7% of the vote, easily defeating the Together conservative bloc of Prime Minister Petr Fiala, which took 23.2%.
Babiš celebrated after his highest-ever electoral success, describing it as “historic” for him and his “catch-all” political party because it burst onto the national stage in 2013.
“We need to make the Czech Republic the best place to live in the European Union, and we will do everything to achieve that,” he said to his supporters and the media.
With the win, Babiš would be following in the footsteps of Prime Ministers Viktor Orbán of Hungary and Robert Fico of Slovakia, whose nations have not given military aid to Ukraine, still import Russian oil, and resist European Union sanctions against Russia.
The Czech Republic has been among the most ardent supporters of Ukraine ever since Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The nation has provided arms, including heavy weapons, to the Ukrainian military and is also behind a campaign that buys artillery shells Ukraine desperately needs from non-EU countries.
“We don’t like it,” Babiš responded to that internationally acclaimed project. “We have another idea about it,” he stated.
Babiš-led opposition accused Fiala of all the scandals of the past few years, from the energy crisis to record-high inflation, and vowed to cancel his pension reform and support for Ukraine.
Fiala congratulated him, explaining the outcome was obvious and “it’s necessary to accept it.”
His campaign was centered on security in the face of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The group of mayors STAN, also part of Fiala’s government, gained 11.1% of the vote, with Fiala’s ally, the Pirate Party, attaining 8.7%.
The Freedom and Direct Democracy party, the prime anti-migrant force, received 7.9% and the right-wing faction going by the name Motorists received 6.8%.
Babiš announced that his intention was to create a one-party government and would need to ask for tolerance from the two factions.
The two-day election of the Czech parliament’s lower house filled 200 seats. Babiš took 80 seats, the Freedom Party 15, and the Motorists 13. The Together coalition took 52.
He teamed up with his friend Orbán a year ago to form a fresh force in the European Parliament, the “Patriots for Europe,” to speak for hard-right parties, a sharp change from the liberal Renew group that Babiš used to be in.
The Patriots share a common anti-migrant agenda, opposition to EU policies addressing climate change, and defense of national sovereignty.
The Motorists, who are backed by former EU-skeptic President Václav Klaus, share the views, while the Freedom party wants to lead the country out of the EU and NATO and plans to expel almost all of the 380,000 Ukrainian refugees from the country.
“We’re clearly pro-European and pro-NATO,” Babiš still declared after the victory.
President Petr Pavel will host Babiš and other party leaders on Sunday. The leader of the most powerful political force typically has an opportunity from the president to establish a new government.
If he prefers to rule alone, his minority Cabinet would require at least the implicit backing of the Freedom Party and the Motorists to obtain a required parliamentary confidence vote to rule.
It was a fiasco for a four-party far-left fringe coalition of maverick Communists who are pro-Russian and did not even secure a seat.
