Anti-establishment billionaire wins big in Czech Republic elections

Former finance minister Andrej Babis is set to become the Czech Republic’s new prime minister after his party, Ano, garnered 30% of the vote in national elections.

Andrej Babis, the second-richest man in the Czech Republic, set up his Ano party only one year before the previous elections in 2013 but instantly became the second-largest party in the country. His erstwhile coalition partner, the veteran, center-left Social Democratic Party of Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, meanwhile slid to sixth place in the most recent election, with only 7.3% of the vote.

Often compared to US President Donald Trump, the 63-year-old Babis is a tycoon worth an estimated $4 billion from a chemicals, food and media empire. He had a clear nationalist message, promising to overturn the political establishment, cut red tape and use his business acumen to help get government back on track. His anti-immigration, anti-corruption and pro-economic reforms platform drew an especially large amount of support from older voters.

Ano’s showing proved that many people were willing to overlook Babis’ August indictment on charges of misusing European Union subsidies while serving as finance minister. He denied the charges, calling them politically-motivated, and refused to step down as party leader.

“I am happy that Czech citizens did not believe the disinformation campaign against us and expressed their trust in us,” Babis said in his victory speech at Ano headquarters. “We are a democratic movement, we are a pro-European and pro-NATO party, and I do not understand why somebody labels us as threat to democracy.”

All told, nine parties entered the lower Chamber of Deputies, including two that had never been in Parliament before. One of them is the Euroskeptic extreme right-wing Freedom and Direct Democracy party with links to Marine Le Pen’s National Front. Although it received over 10% of the vote, Babis has already rejected both it and its political opposite, the Communist party, as possible coalition partners.

But since the elections resulted in the most fragmented Chamber of Deputies in the history of the Czech Republic, the job of putting together a coalition will not be an easy one.

By: Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Andrej BabisCzech Republic