The Parliamentary elections held back in October of 2017 may have produced a clear-cut winner, the ANO party, but it failed to result in a division of seats that lent itself to the creation of a government. The old government has been ruling the country ever since, but the weakened body is unable to carry out any of the badly needed changes and reforms. Yesterday, president Milos Zeman named ANO’s controversial leader Andrej Babiš as the prime minister and called upon him to form a government as quickly as possible. The difficulty is that ANO is a populist movement that leans to the right on economic issues, but it will have to rely on “tolerance” of the Czech Communist party…something that will not be provided for free.
ANO will also have to finalize a government coalition agreement with the Social Democrats, who have made things even more complicated by holding a party-wide referendum on whether a deal should be made with Babiš in the first place. The results won’t be known until June 15, but Babiš is certain that a government will then be approved by the parliament by July 20. Demonstrations were held across the country to voice opposition to plans for the new government. Protestors say Babiš, who is under investigation for alleged misuse of EU funds, has no business assuming the most powerful political position in the country. They also warn that the Communists will have a decisive voice in government for the first time since the revolution of 1989.
