While October’s parliamentary elections produced a clear winner, the ANO party led by former finance minister Andrej Babiš, it failed to create conditions for a long-term governing coalition. Eight other political groupings got the 5 percent needed to win seats in the lower house of the legislature, but none are interested in working with ANO. This makes it unclear how a government can be formed, though president Miloš Zeman has called upon Babiš to try to form a minority government. Another former finance minister, Miroslav Kalousek, unveiled his plan to block the creation of an ANO-only government, which involved refusing to elect Babiš as the parliament’s new chairman. But the proposal would leave the country without a functioning parliament at a time when a budget for 2018 still has to be passed. It’s far from clear what the outcome will be and whether a fresh round of elections will have to be called to settle the matter.
