The leader of ANO party Andrej Babis speaks to the media after casting his vote in parliamentary elections in Prague, Czech Republic October 20, 2017. REUTERS/David W Cerny
October 21, 2017
By Jason Hovet
PRAGUE (Reuters) – Czechs voted on Saturday in the final day of a parliamentary election likely to bring a billionaire businessman to power on promises to cut taxes, weed out political corruption and stand firm against immigration.
Andrej Babis’s ANO party held a narrowing double-digit lead going into the vote, which started Friday and ends at 2 p.m. (1200 GMT) on Saturday.
The Central European country has enjoyed rapid growth, a balanced budget and the lowest unemployment in the European Union, but voters have grown tired of traditional political players, giving rise to Babis and other protest parties.
(For a Graphic, click http://tmsnrt.rs/2vO4hPW)
As many as nine parties had a chance of winning seats in the 200-member lower house, possibly complicating coalition-building for the victor.
ANO has maintained its rhetoric of opposition to the ruling system despite serving in the outgoing government along with Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka’s center-left Social Democrats and the centrist Christian Democrats.
Final polls gave ANO about 25-27 percent support, at least twice that of the Social Democrats in second place.
Babis has taken a tough line against further EU integration, accepting refugees and adoption of the euro, raising the prospect he may join Hungary and Poland on a collision course with the bloc.
However, he also praises EU membership and doesn’t share the illiberal ideology seen in right-wing governments in Budapest and Warsaw.
Concerns about Babis mainly center on his strong managerial style and vast business influence that would be amplified by him becoming prime minister.
Babis has maintained his popularity despite accusations of conflicts of interest related to his food, chemical and agriculture business holdings, which were placed in a trust earlier this year.
He also faces police charges that he illegally received a 2 million euro EU subsidy when he ran his empire, before entering politics. He has denied wrongdoing, saying the charges were a plot by opponents keen to push him out of politics.
“The more people organize campaigns against him the more it helps him among others,” said ANO voter Alena Chlostova.
Political analysts expect the current coalition to remain with ANO at the helm, or an ANO tie-up with center-right parties. Any deal may run up against demands by potential partners that Babis personally stay out of the cabinet because of the fraud charges against him.
If talks with mainstream parties fail, there is also the possibility ANO may form a cabinet with backing from the far-right, anti-EU Freedom and Direct Democracy party whose support ticked up in final pre-election polls.
But many voters are wary of Babis and his pledges to run the state with a businessman’s touch.
“His idea that you can run the state like a business is out of place. His firm belongs to him but the state does not,” Milos Ruml, a Prague pensioner, said after voting for the Social Democrats.
ANO has won support from both right and left with pledges to boost investment in shoddy roads, turf out corrupt politicians and reject any EU-wide schemes to resettle migrants from the Middle East and Africa.
Babis’s swipes at Brussels play well with euroskeptic Czechs and although immigration to the Czech Republic is virtually non-existent, fear of it has played a part in campaigning, with most parties taking a similar tough stance.
The anti-immigrant mood mirrors similar trends in neighboring countries. Parties opposed to immigration did well in Germany’s election in September and in Austria’s last week.
** For more stories on the Czech election:
(Reporting by Jason Hovet; Editing by Ros Russell)
