The populists won the elections in the Czech Republic. What you need to know
According to the results of the Czech elections, Andrei Babis's "Action of Dissatisfied Citizens" (ANO) won 34.5% of the vote and 80 out of 200 seats in the lower house of parliament. Despite the fact that the party failed to win a majority, it has a chance to form a right-wing coalition and set a course for a priority solution to national problems. What the new government of the Czech Republic might look like is in the Izvestia article.
Candidate for the post of Prime Minister of the Czech Republic is a Eurosceptic
• The position of prime minister is attributed to the founder of the ANO party, Andrei Babis, who already headed the government in 2017-2021 and earned the reputation of the "Czech Donald Trump." He shares the conservative views of the US president, calls for the protection of national interests and opposes high military spending, Ukraine's accession to the EU and a sharp confrontation with Russia.
• Andrei Babis is currently being prosecuted in the Czech Republic on charges of fraud with European subsidies: the Supreme Court of the Czech Republic issued a guilty verdict on August 20, and the President of the Republic, Peter Pavel, declared a possible conflict of interest in connection with the accusations against Babis. However, the Czech press notes that further criminal prosecution will be possible only by a decision of the Chamber of Deputies.
The ANO may form a right-wing coalition
• The ANO failed to gain a majority in parliament, and the main intrigue lies in who will join the coalition of the new government. Despite the fact that Petr Pavel has not yet instructed Babis to form a government, Babis has already informed the president about negotiations with the parties Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) and Motorists for Themselves (AUTO), which oppose the European Union and the green agenda.
• In the case of unification, the right will gain 108 seats out of 200 in the lower house of parliament, which will maintain its preponderance, but will not ensure a constitutional majority (120 seats), which will allow changing basic laws and circumventing the presidential veto. At the same time, the former ruling SPOLU coalition, which this time won only 52 seats in parliament, may collapse and further weaken the position of supporters of supporting Ukraine and increasing military spending.
Czech Republic may reduce support for Ukraine
• Babis's party went to the polls with the slogan "Czechs first", promising to lower taxes and energy prices, raise salaries and pensions. These slogans have found support among the population, faced with rising inflation and falling real incomes. Fulfilling these promises will require additional funds from the new government, which can be found by reducing military spending. In addition, Babis opposes the "Shell Initiative", according to which the Czech Republic collects ammunition from Western countries for supplies to Ukraine.
• The ANO party is highly likely to take over key positions in the future government, which it will be able to put experienced politicians in. In particular, Lubomir Metnar could head the Ministry of Defense, Alyona Shillerova could become finance minister, and Karel Havlicek is considered the most successful candidate for the post of economy minister. But the candidacy of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, which determines the country's foreign policy, remains in doubt. At the same time, the ANO has the opportunity to merge or abolish individual ministries.
When preparing the material, Izvestia took into account the opinions of:
- political scientist Vadim Trukhachev;
- American political scientist Malek Dudakov;
- political scientist Vitaly Danilov.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
