Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala has told voters that they don’t have to like him or his government in order to vote for him and keep Andrej Babiš’s ANO movement from retaking charge.
“You don’t have to love Spolu,” he said, referencing the current coalition parties of ODS, KDU-ČSL, and TOP 09. “You don’t have to like me personally, but the reality is that if the votes are diluted, Andrej Babiš will form the government,” he warned.
In an interview with Deník.cz, cited by Echo24, the ODS leader rejected the idea that current government parties could support a minority government led by Andrej Babiš’s ANO movement after next week’s parliamentary elections in order to stop Babiš from extending a coalition invite to right-wing groups.
Fiala accused Babiš of being driven by personal ambition rather than national interest. “Andrej Babiš is not at all concerned with the good life of people in the Czech Republic, but rather with his personal, power-hungry, and economic interests,” he said. He also dismissed speculation that he might resign in the event of a poor result for Spolu, insisting: “I am only thinking about how to win the elections.”
Fiala commenced “Project Fear” with less than two weeks to go until polling day, warning of the stakes if ANO secures a majority with its potential allies. “The moment they have a majority in the House, it’s lost, it’s gone, and we’ll quickly wonder how the country starts to change in a matter of hours or days,” he said.
The Prime Minister also framed Babiš’s foreign alliances as dangerous, pointing to his ties with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Austria’s Freedom Party (FPÖ). “You cannot support someone who associates with someone like Viktor Orbán or the FPÖ at the European level; that is not a policy in the interest of the Czech Republic,” Fiala claimed.
He added that Babiš “does not come from any value system, cannot withstand pressure, and Orbán would treat him like a puppet.”
Elections are due to be held on Oct. 3 and 4, and Babiš’s ANO has maintained a healthy polling lead for months and is widely expected to be returned to parliament as the largest single party. It will, however, likely fall short of the required mandate to govern alone.
Possible coalition partners could include anti-establishment parties on either the left or the right, including the anti-immigration Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) and the protest left-wing group Stačilo! (Enough!)
With 200 seats in the Czech parliament’s lower house, a total of 101 seats is required for a majority. Latest polling shows ANO attaining 68, Spolu at 41, SPD and its allies on 24, STAN with 24, the Pirates on 19, Stačilo! at 15, and Motorists with 5.
Babiš has built his campaign around prioritizing domestic needs over international commitments. He has vowed to block Czech participation in the EU-led purchase of ammunition for Ukraine and rejected NATO’s proposed increase in defense spending, insisting that funds should instead go toward pensions, healthcare, housing, and cost-of-living support.
