Billionaire Andrej Babiš’s ANO party cruised to victory in the Czech Republic’s parliamentary election on Saturday (4 October)
The billionaire rejected accusations that his win would make his country a less reliable EU and NATO partner.
Billionaire Andrej Babiš’s ANO party cruised to victory in the Czech Republic’s parliamentary election on Saturday (4 October), raising the prospect of a government that would boost Europe’s populist, anti-immigration camp and reduce support for Ukraine.
An ebullient Babiš told supporters that ANO would seek a one-party cabinet but would talk with two small parties – including the far-right SPD – for support as his party will lack an outright majority.
He again rejected accusations that his win would make the central European nation a less reliable European Union and NATO partner.
‘Strong Czechia’
“We went into the election with the aim of ending the government of Petr Fiala and support even for a minority cabinet of ANO is important for us and it would meet the target we had for this election,” SPD Deputy Chairman Radim Fiala said on television.
Overall, the fringe pro-Russian parties fared worse than expected in the partial results, with SPD on 7.8% and the far-left Stacilo!, built around the Communist Party, below the 5% threshold to enter parliament.
Babiš, who led a centre-left cabinet in 2017-2021, once wanted to join the euro but has since become a eurosceptic and a supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump, handing out “Strong Czechia” baseball caps inspired by Trump’s MAGA slogan.
An ally of 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.
He has rejected calls from SPD to hold a referendum on leaving the EU and NATO, but has said he would end the “Czech initiative” that has bought millions of artillery rounds from around the world for Ukraine with funding from Western donors.