Populist billionaire Babis wins Czech general election

PRAGUE

Andrej Babis held talks with the Czech president and elected party chiefs yesterday, after his populist movement topped a national vote and set its sights on a minority government backed by the country's far right.

Final results showed that Babis's ANO (Yes) party won 34.5 percent of the vote held over the weekend, earning a preliminary 80 seats in the 200-member parliament of the EU and NATO member of 10.9 million people.

Outgoing Prime Minister Petr Fiala's Together grouping came second with 23.4 percent, ahead of its coalition partner STAN with 11.2 percent.

Babis, a self-proclaimed "Trumpist," met President Petr Pavel, who will tap the next premier under the constitution, as part of talks with elected party heads yesterday.

"I have promised Mr. President to show him a solution that will be in line with Czech and European laws," said Babis.

His party won over many Czechs with its pledges of welfare and halting military aid to Ukraine.

"We are helping Ukraine through [the] EU, and [the] EU is helping Ukraine, and this is the way we will continue to help," Babis said in a video published by Ukraine's public broadcaster Suspilne yesterday.

Asked by a Ukrainian reporter whether he would support Kiev's accession bid, Babis said the country was "not prepared for the EU."

"We have to end the war first," he added.

Babis has pledged to review a Czech-led international drive to supply artillery shells to Ukraine, launched by Fiala's government, and "discuss it with [Ukrainian] President [Volodymyr] Zelensky" if necessary.

But he has insisted that his party is "pro-European and pro-NATO," despite fears he might draw the Czech Republic closer to EU mavericks Hungary and Slovakia in refusing to aid Ukraine militarily or sanction Russia.