Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Czech Republic’s opposition ANO party, led by former Prime Minister Andrej Babis, has won the country’s parliamentary election, according to official results from a near-complete vote count. With over 99 per cent of the voting districts counted in the election, ANO had garnered nearly 34.6 per cent of the vote, while the ruling center-right SPOLU coalition came in second place with 23.3 per cent, Xinhua news agency reported.
Other parties clearing the 5 per cent threshold included the Mayors and Independents (STAN) with 11.2 per cent, the Pirate Party with 8.9 per cent, the far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) with about 7.8 per cent, and the populist Motorists for Themselves with nearly 6.8 per cent.
Babis called the election result the absolute highlight of his political career. “We are extremely happy and we thank everyone who came to the polls,” he said, claiming that ANO achieved a historic result. He added that his party has a clear program and will change the country for the better. “A government will be formed that will really work hard, that someone will manage and that will fulfill the program from the first moment,” he said.
Current Prime Minister Petr Fiala, also chairman of the Civic Democratic Party in the Spolu alliance, acknowledged the victory of ANO. “I congratulate the winner of the elections, which is Andrej Babis.” The Pirate party’s leader, Zdenek Hrib, declared that he would under no circumstances enter into a ruling coalition with ANO and certainly not with the SPD.
