Populist billionaire Andrej Babiš, known as a 'Trumpist' wins Czech parliamentary election

Andrej Babiš, the populist billionaire, won the parliamentary election in the Czech Republic, but fell short of forming an overall majority on Saturday. The win marks a major political comeback for Babiš, who was the prime minister of the country from 2017 to 2021.

Political analysts have maintained that Babiš is expected to put the country on a course away from supporting Ukraine and towards Hungary and Slovakia, both of which have maintained a pro-Russia stance throughout the war.

According to AFP, with 98 per cent of the votes counted by the Czech statistics office, Babiš’s ANO (YES) party captured 35 per cent of the votes. This was followed by the pro-Western coalition of the prime minister, Petr Fiala, with 23.0 per cent. The coalition defeated Babiš in the 2021 election.

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According to AFP, the two-day elections in the European nation 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 per cent of the vote, with another ally of Fiala, the Pirate Party, getting an 8.7 per cent share.

It is pertinent to note that Babiš is a self-proclaimed “Trumpist”. Soon after the results started to emerge, the Czech billionaire described the polls as the “absolute peak” of his political career. Voter turnout for this election was as high as 69 per cent.

Since 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 with the country’s president present. Before the polls, Babiš had already ruled out cooperation with any of the parties that had been in the government after the 2021 election.

Hence, his potential partners would include fringe parties Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD), an anti-immigration party that won 7.9 per cent of the votes, and a rightwing group called the Motorists, which received 6.8%.

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The Czech billionaire would need to ally 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.