Polls suggest that former Prime Minister Andrej Babis is likely to return to power<\/p>\n
A right-wing Euroskeptic looks set to become the next prime minister of the Czech Republic, pre-election polls have suggested.
\nAgri-industry tycoon Andrej Babis,\u00a0dubbed the \u2018Czech Trump\u2019 in Western media, is expected to receive about 30% of the votes,\u00a0beating the current pro-EU ruling coalition Spolu (Together) by around 9%.
\nTwo days of voting ended on Saturday afternoon and early results have suggested that\u00a0a Euroskeptic who opposes continued aid to Ukraine will form a government. Czech President \u2013 and former NATO general \u2013 Petr Pavel, has threatened to refuse\u00a0approval of anyone he deems anti-EU or anti-NATO to any potential cabinet.\u00a0
\nPrime Minister Petr Fiala entered the election with the lowest ratings for any Czech government in more than decade,\u00a0amid public anger over austerity measures and corruption scandals in the administration.<\/p>\n
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Polls suggest\u00a0that no party will be able to gain a decisive majority, and that whoever tops the vote will likely have to negotiate a coalition or settle for a minority government.
\nBabis, a co-founder of the Patriots for Europe faction in the European parliament with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Organ, has promised to cut aid to Ukraine if he returns to office, unlike Fiala, who has been a staunch supporter of Kiev since the Ukraine conflict escalated in 2022.
\nThe 71-year-old has been particularly critical of Prague\u2019s ammunition initiative for Ukraine, calling it \u201coverpriced\u201d and insisting that it should be handled by NATO.
\nHe has previously spoken against Kiev\u2019s membership of the EU and opposes Brussels on immigration and the Green deal.<\/p>\n
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The Western media has warned that with Hungary and Slovakia already refusing to provide military aid to Kiev and urging a diplomatic end to the conflict, Babis\u2019 victory could tip central Europe even further away from Brussels, both on Ukraine and other issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Polls suggest that former Prime Minister Andrej Babis is likely to return to power A right-wing Euroskeptic looks set to become the next prime minister of the Czech Republic, pre-election…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19697,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t