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Former prime minister wins Czech election, but not enough to govern alone

2025-10-04 19:14:20, Kosova & Bota CNA

Former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis has made a dramatic comeback, winning parliamentary elections four years after leaving power.

But he now faces difficult negotiations to form a governing majority.

These elections are being closely watched by European Union and NATO allies because of the impact they could have on policies for Ukraine.

With 95 percent of the votes counted, results show Babis, the billionaire leader of the ANO (Yes) party, as the clear winner. However, he does not have a majority of seats in Parliament, meaning he will need to find coalition partners.

Many analysts suggest that the government could include the far-right SPD, which has called for the Czech Republic to leave the European Union and NATO.

"If the government depends on the position or support of the SPD, then the situation will be complicated," said Jan Machacek, foreign affairs advisor to Czech President Peter Pavel, in several responses to Radio Free Europe.

Machacek said this would be "a very dangerous situation for foreign policy, because the SPD is an extremist, very anti-Ukrainian and anti-EU, and pro-Russian party."

Babis has used Eurosceptic rhetoric and suggested he would end the Czech initiative to buy ammunition for Ukraine.

However, the 71-year-old has rejected the idea of ??leaving the EU and NATO.

Czech political commentator Jiri Pehe told Radio Free Europe that "it will be very difficult for Andrej Babis to create a stable coalition" based on the SPD or the Motorists, a small opposition group that has entered Parliament for the first time.

Other parties, including members of the current government, have rejected the possibility of cooperating with Babis.

Babis has often expressed support for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has blocked several EU decisions to sanction Russia or support Ukraine.

But Pehe said that Babish, with large business interests in Western Europe, has shown during his first term as prime minister that he has been pragmatic.

"I don't believe that Babis will go as far as Orban or the Slovak Prime Minister, Robert Fico, because the Czech Republic is no longer dependent on Russian oil and gas," he said.

Since the start of Russia's full-scale war in Ukraine in 2022, Prague has stopped importing oil from Moscow and reduced the amount of gas it receives.

Hungary and Slovakia continue to import large quantities of both substances./REL