The opposition populist ANO party, led by billionaire ex-prime minister Andrej Babis, registered its best ever result in a Czech Senate election after eight of its candidates entered the upper chamber of the parliament in the second round of the election contest for 27 of the 81 Senate seats last weekend. 

Sitting Prime Minister Petr Fiala claimed victory for 15 candidates from four parties of his centre-right ruling coalition, which did not include any candidates from the liberal Pirate Party, which is on the way out of Fiala’s cabinet following a spat between Fiala and Pirate Party chairman in demise Ivan Bartos.

ANO’s result marks a breakthrough for the party amid a low second-round voter turnout of just 17.54%. “We broke the Senate spell, we will want a representative in the leadership of the Upper Chamber, and we will do everything so it [the Senate] ceases to be a rubber stamp for … government proposals,” commented ANO’s first vice chair, Karel Havlicek.

ANO has never won more than four seats in the Senate, which was referred to by liberal media as a democratic backstop during ANO’s previous stint in power, marked by an alliance between Babis’s cabinet and the nationalist ex-president Milos Zeman. Their alliance over cabinet appointments and courting of Hungary’s radical rightwing leader Viktor Orban sparked mass demonstrations peaking in 2019 and mobilising popular support for opposition parties which eventually formed the sitting centre-right cabinet of Petr Fiala in 2021.

Fiala also claimed victory in the Senate elections, stating that parties of his centre-right ruling coalition captured more seats than ANO. Centrist Mayors and Independents secured six candidates, Fiala’s neoliberal ODS five, while also losing five seats, and Christian Democratic KDU-CSL and pro-EU rightwing TOP 09 secured two each.

“The goal we had was clear, to defend the Senate as the key backstop of democracy against leftist populists,” Fiala stated. The Czech PM referred to ANO as “leftist” even though Babis is one of the co-founders of the EU parliamentary faction Patriots for Europe, along with the leader of Austria’s far-right FPO Herbert Kickl and Orban. Barely a day after the Senate elections Babis congratulated Kickl on an election victory in Austria on September 29.

“Congratulations, Herbert Kickl and FPO for winning the general election!” Babis posted unusually in English on his X (formerly Twitter) account, adding that “Viktor Orban was right to point out that the Patriots for Europe are getting stronger day by day.”   

Czech media were quick to note that ANO was the only major party not to set up election headquarters following the results. On the day of the elections on September 28, ANO’s top bosses, including Babis, Havlicek and the party’s parliamentary leader attended Zeman’s 80th birthday party at a luxurious hotel next to the castle in Hluboka nad Vltavou in Southern Bohemia where Zeman hosted Orban, and the Polish and Slovak presidents, Andrzej Duda and Peter Pellegrini.   

The Senate second round results were also marked by a continued debacle for the Pirate Party when even former presidential candidate Marek Hilser was narrowly beaten in Prague 2 district. Hilser joined another notable Pirate senator and auditor, Lukas Wagenknecht, who was edged out already in the first round, in a further blow to the anti-corruption agenda which both legislators pursued.   

During Czech Television’s prime political news programme, Otazky Vaclava Moravce (OVM), Bartos confirmed that the Pirate Party is leaving Fiala’s cabinet and that Pirate Party Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Lipavsky and Minister for Legislation Michal Salomoun are to file their resignations from the cabinet following an internal party vote.

“When you throw out a chairman of the party over the phone, then the party cannot respond in any other way,” Bartos said at Sunday’s OVM, referring to Fiala’s decision to dismiss Bartos from the cabinet without prior consultations.

Lipavsky also announced he is leaving the Pirate Party and is cutting his stay in New York at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) short and returning to Prague to hold talks with Fiala. Lipavsky has opposed the Pirate Party leaving the cabinet, while Fiala openly courted Lipavsky to stay.  

Fiala also told the media he does not expect the cabinet to need a vote of confidence if the Pirate Party leaves as the ruling coalition will still have a majority of 104 in the 200-seat parliament.