What path will the Czech Republic take after the election?
Parliamentary elections will be held in the Czech Republic on Friday and Saturday. The populist ANO party led by former prime minister Andrej Babiš is ahead in the polls, with a ten-percentage-point lead over the liberal-conservative governing coalition of Prime Minister Petr Fiala. If Babiš were to become prime minister again, he would be the first Czech politician to be re-elected to the post. But commentators see several obstacles in his path.
Keep important touchpoints in mind
To avoid an anti-EU and anti-NATO bias in the country, Deník suggests the following approach:
“The governing parties and ANO have many important points of contact, which include the Czech Republic remaining in the EU and Nato. ... ANO leader Babiš has also changed his mind on other issues. For example, like the president and the defence minister, he believes that intruding Russian drones or aircraft should be shot down. ... And like Babiš, Prime Minister Fiala says that the climate targets must be lowered to free up more money for defence. ... Voters should think carefully about what a [potential] alliance between ANO and the anti-system movement Stačilo!, which wants to sever our international ties [with the EU and Nato], would mean.”
Joining forces with Babiš suicide for ODS
Forum24 doesn't see an alliance between the largest governing party ODS and Babiš's ANO as likely:
“There are many among today's ODS members who understand that politics is also a matter of trust, values and long-term strategy. A merger between the ODS and ANO makes no sense politically, either regarding values or in practical terms. Babiš already destroyed his coalition partner, the Social Democrats [in his government from 2017 to 2021]. There can be no doubt that any other coalition partner would face a similar fate.”