Populist billionaire Andrej Babiš wins Czech parliamentary election | Czech Republic

Populist billionaire Andrej Babiš has won the Czech parliamentary election in a political comeback that puts the country on a course away from supporting Ukraine and towards Hungary and Slovakia, which have taken a pro-Russian path.

With the votes from almost 98% of polling stations counted by the statistics office, Babiš’s ANO (YES) movement captured 35% of the vote followed by the pro-western coalition of the prime minister, Petr Fiala, with 23.0%. The coalition defeated Babiš in the 2021 election.

The two-day election filled 200 seats in the lower house of the Czech parliament. A group of mayors known as STAN, also a member of Fiala’s government, had 11.1% of the vote, with another ally of Fiala, the Pirates party, reaching 8.7%.

The anti-migrant force, the Freedom and Direct Democracy party, got 7.9% while a rightwing group calling itself the Motorists received 6.8%. The two are potential partners for Babiš if he wants to have a majority government.

With the victory, Babiš is set to join the ranks of prime ministers Viktor Orbán of Hungary and Robert Fico of Slovakia, whose countries have refused to provide military aid to Ukraine, continue to import Russian oil and oppose EU sanctions on Russia.

The Czech Republic has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. The country has donated arms including heavy weapons to the Ukrainian armed forces and is behind an initiative that acquires artillery shells Ukraine badly needs from countries outside the EU.

Babiš has questioned such support and also refused to fully endorse a Nato commitment to significantly increase defence spending.

He joined forces with his friend Orbán last year to create a new alliance in the European parliament, the “Patriots for Europe”, to represent hard-right groups, a significant shift from the liberal Renew group that Babiš previously belonged to.