A resounding victory. Coming well into the lead in the second round of the legislative elections in the Czech Republic, Andrej Babis is back on the political scene. His party, ANO, is ahead of the outgoing coalition of center-right Prime Minister Petr Fiala (22.7%) and his opponents, collecting 35.4% of the votes, according to the results counted at 95% this Saturday, October 4, reports AFP.
Andrej Babis, aged 71, intends to take back the reins of the country which he already led from 2017 to 2021. However, after this victory, a question arises: will he manage to find a majority in Parliament? Four years ago, with 72 of the 200 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, the self-proclaimed Trumpist failed to form a coalition. He then suffered a defeat in the 2023 presidential election, clearly beaten by General Petr Pavel.
A coalition of nationalists?
“We will seek to form a one-party government, led by ANO”Andrej Babis immediately reacted after the announcement of the results. However, he was open to alliances with the nationalist SPD party (7.9%) and the conservative Motorist party (6.8%). It is now up to President Petr Pavel to appoint the next prime minister. This former head of NATO forces met Andrej Babis at the start of the week to consider what happens next if his party wins the elections.
To breathe new life into his country, the potential future head of government had made many promises: increase in salaries and pensions, reduction in taxes, reduction in VAT for restaurants, increase in social assistance, elimination of audiovisual royalties… To finance this program, he promised to slim down the bureaucratic mammoth and reduce aid to Ukraine. Moreover, Andrej Babis defends the organization of referendums on a possible exit from the European Union, opposes mass immigration and the reception of refugees, and holds a speech marked by strong hostility towards Islam.
