Billionaire Babis’s party party wins parliamentary elections

Billionaire businessman Andrei Babis won a parliamentary election in the Czech Republic, although his populist Party Ano did not reach a common majority, preliminary results show.

With the current forecasts, Ano received just under 35% of the vote, winning them 81 seats in the lower house in 200 seats.

Babis is expected – who was Prime Minister from 2017 to 2021 – to be invited to negotiate the formation of a new coalition.

These elections did not throw big surprises, but he left many questions.

Few believed that the current right -wing coalition would survive. Few doubted that Babis would come first. Few believed that it would win enough places to rule on its own.

All these forecasts – worn by any public opinion survey in the last two years – have come true.

This is the easy part. But what’s next?

Babis will start talks immediately-maybe tonight-with the two small right Eurosceptic parties, which managed to pass a 5% threshold: anti-green transactions with motorists for themselves and anti-immigrant freedom and direct democracy (SPD) party led by Czech-Japanese entrepreneur Tomo Ozumura.

Babis seems to need an alliance with the two to form a government of the majority.

Ano will have the generally with motorists. The two are already sitting in the same European Parliament Group-Pro-Soverence Patriots for Europe, which Babis founded with Hungary Victor Orban and Austria Herbert Keckl last year.

Ano shares motorists’ concerns about EU emissions and is condemned to change or reject them directly.

Both sides are categorically against Czech households carrying a greater financial burden for cleaner energy, and both oppose the EU ban on the sale of new gasoline and diesel cars after 2035.

Relationships with SPD can be more filled.

For starters, SPD fights these elections in an official union with a number of fringe parties on the right, which means that they will have to give part of their seats for them. And the Zammura may not have complete control over MPs in his cakus – always a disaster recipe in coalition policy.

Babis also strongly ruled out the resolution of a referendum or EU membership or NATO membership – a key priority for SPD policy.

Ano leader leaned against anti-Ukrainian rhetoric in the last days of the campaign, perceiving the government of the centers to give “Czech mothers, nothing and Ukrainians everything.”

But the appendage of the soil to deport Ukrainian refugees massively will probably fall on deaf ears.

In the end, Babis can decide to rule alone, in a minority cabinet, supported by motorists and SPD.