Billionaire businessman Andrej Babis has won parliamentary elections in the Czech Republic, although his populist ANO party fell short of an overall majority.
ANO received just under 35% of the vote, earning them 80 seats in the 200-seat lower house – up from 72 seats four years ago, according to preliminary results.
Babis – who served as prime minister from 2017 to 2021 – is expected to be invited to lead talks on forming a new coalition.
This is a historic success, Andrej Babis announced to cheering supporters at the ANO headquarters in the suburbs of Prague.
He'd entered the building holding aloft a Bluetooth speaker blasting a remix of the 1981 hit 'Sarà perché ti amo' by the Italian pop trio Ricchi e Poveri. The same song resounded across the stage as he accepted the applause. Some colleagues – including the former finance minister Alena Schillerova – danced along to the beat.
It's the pinnacle of my political career! he said, adding that he and his team would now work to make the Czech Republic the best place to live in the European Union.
However, while this election has thrown up no great surprises – few had any doubt he would emerge in first place - there are still plenty of questions ahead.
Babis has already begun talks with the two small right-wing eurosceptic parties that managed to pass the 5% threshold: the anti-Green Deal Motorists for Themselves, and the anti-immigrant Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) party, led by Czech-Japanese entrepreneur Tomio Okamura.
Parliamentary maths means he will need an alliance with both to form a government that enjoys a majority in parliament - none of the other parties are likely to work with him.
After giving his acceptance speech, he stated a preference for ANO to govern alone, rather than create a formal coalition.
ANO will have the most in common with the Motorists, who share similar skepticism regarding the EU's emissions targets, which they vow to modify or reject.
Both parties oppose increased financial burdens on Czech households for cleaner energy and reject the EU's ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars after 2035.
Relations with the SPD could be more fraught, as they fought this election in a formal alliance with fringe parties on the far-right requiring them to yield some of their seats.
Babis has ruled out allowing a referendum on EU or NATO membership, a key SPD priority, complicating coalition dynamics.
Babis also leaned into anti-Ukrainian rhetoric towards the campaign's end, criticizing the previous government for prioritizing Ukrainian benefits over Czech families.
However, Okamura's proposal for mass deportation of Ukrainian refugees isn’t likely to resonate with Babis.
Military support for Ukraine's war effort is expected to transform under a Babis administration, where he has vowed to scrap the Czech ammunition initiative supplying Ukraine, advocating for NATO oversight instead.
Despite concerns from Western allies regarding the Czech Republic's reliability under his leadership, Babis dismissed such worries, recalling his previous successful term as prime minister.
