Legislative elections: Czech Republic prepares to shift from Babis populism to conservative government | I… – Market Research Telecast

The Czech Republic is preparing for a new stage after the defeat in the legislative elections of the populist Andrej Babis, the second richest man in the country, by two large coalitions of different political backgrounds that agreed to join forces to unseat the businessman. Petr Fiala, the leader of the conservative Civic Democratic Party (ODS) and head of the center-right alliance Spolu (Together), is now emerging as the new prime minister. The turn of the wheel may not be 180 degrees, since the trend of its policies will continue to be conservative, although a change in message and forms is expected. Despite the unexpected result, this is not the political end for Babis, who could run for president.

However, the change is not minor. Experts assure that issues such as the Czech Republics membership in NATO and its role within the European Union will no longer be questioned. The discussion about the Checxit the possibility of leaving NATO is out, says Lubomr Kopecek, professor of Political Science at Masaryk University in Brno. The Spolu alliance and the coalition of Pirates and Mayors and Independents (Stan) signed an agreement on election night which states that both groups will negotiate to form a new Government and asked President Milos Zeman to entrust Petr Fiala with the formation of the Government.

The new Parliament will be constituted on November 8, but it is expected that next week the new Government will begin to take shape. The political scientist Fiala, 57, will be the candidate for the position of prime minister, since his party is the one that has obtained the most votes within the coalition. Former rector of his University, Kopecek points out that he is a person who communicates well, skilled at finding agreements on many issues and that is going to be important. The professor warns that within the change that means that Babis is not in the Government a businessman who has been surrounded by accusations of corruption and conflict of interest the ODS is a liberal and eurosceptic conservative party, but being within a coalition with other defending parties of the European Union Fiala will be pragmatic and the EU will not be a problem for that coalition. He is very careful in his political steps.

It was in doubt if the transition would be peaceful after President Milos Zeman, an ally of Babis and the person responsible for commissioning the formation of the Government, warned that it would be entrusted to the most voted party, but the concession made by ANO (Alianza de Dissatisfied Citizens) by acknowledging their defeat points out that the process will be less arduous than expected. We know how to count up to 108 (), so we are counting on us to be in the opposition, said Jaroslav Faltnek, the president of the parliamentary group of the formation, on Tuesday, referring to the seats that the coalition has out of the total of 200 that Parliament has. We dont want to drag this out. We want the new government to emerge within a reasonable time, added Faltnek, a politician who is most trusted by Babis. The magnate, who ruled in alliance with the Social Democrats and the Communists, has been left without allies in Parliament because they did not reach the 5% necessary to have representation. And although finally the far-right formation the Party for Freedom and Democracy (SPD), of the Japanese businessman Tomio Okamura, won 20 seats, in case it had been considered as an option to form a government, the numbers did not come out either.

This will not be the political end of Babis. He will be in the opposition and will be a deputy in Parliament, says Kopecek, who believes that the businessmans expectations could lie in the countrys presidency. Zeman, 77 years old and in poor health, has been admitted since last Sunday. The president is diabetic and suffers from a neuropathy that mainly affects his legs, which forces him to be in a wheelchair. His term ends in early 2023, but he could advance the call for the presidential elections. The political scientist predicts that the next election will probably be soon and [Babis] he will probably be a candidate .

Regarding the countrys change of course, Raquel Garca, a researcher at the Elcano Royal Institute and an expert on the European Union, agrees that Babiss departure is good news given the position of the Czech Republic with respect to the EU and NATO, but he shows moderate optimism when recalling that the ODS led by the Spolu coalition is a conservative party that belongs to the family of conservatives and reformists and shares a political family in the EU with Law and Justice (PiS) in Poland. However, he trusts that being in the coalition he will have to moderate his position in accordance with the other more centrist parties.

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Garca points out that despite the shock caused by the impossibility of Babis forming a government again, his party, which emerged from an anti-system movement, is the one that has obtained the most seats, 72, one more than the center-right coalition, and if it is Broken down by individual political parties, the next one in votes is the ODS with 34 seats, followed by Mayors and Independents, with 33. An abysmal difference that shows that Babis continues to have a faithful base. He with a single party has won more seats than the second most voted party, he points out. So what happened?

The analyst points out the problems that Babis has dragged on since he came to power for the first time in 2017. It presented itself as a leading anti-corruption party and has a conflict of interest in the EU over the business conglomerate led by Agrofert, led to [Viktor] Orbn to the campaign, has appeared in a scandal as the Pandora Papers And, in addition, the Czech Republic has been hit by the coronavirus pandemic. In the end, all that has taken its toll .

As for the analyzes that suggest that the fall of Babis may be the beginning of the end for other populist leaders within the EU such as the Hungarian Viktor Orbn or the Polish Prime Minister Mateuz Morawiecki, he disagrees. Yes, it can serve as an example for the opposition parties in Poland or Hungary to form coalitions with which they can kick out Morawiecki and Orbn, but the main party in the Spolu coalition is Eurosceptic, it is not a very progressive coalition, nor Europhile . Its not Babis, its not the extreme right, but I dont think its going to be a paradigm of support for the EU.

The big hit went to the left with the disappearance of communists and social democrats, and within the Stan coalition the sharp decline of Pirates, which went from the 22 seats obtained in 2017 (which placed it as the third political force) to four. The formation has been the subject of constant criticism from the Babis campaign and the media it controls.

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Legislative elections: Czech Republic prepares to shift from Babis populism to conservative government | I... - Market Research Telecast