Czechia: Babiš's ANO loses every Senate run-off
ANO wins none of its 13 run-offs, while the Mayors party STAN takes 10 of 27 seats. PM Babiš calls the result 'catastrophic' but sticks to his course.
Archive image · Photo: Vox España / Wikimedia Commons, CC0 (cropped and resized)
In the Czech Senate run-offs held on Friday and Saturday, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš's ANO party won none of the 13 seats in which its candidates had reached the second round. It also lost the only seat it was defending, in Karviná. The Mayors and Independents movement (STAN) and its allies won 10 of the 27 seats contested, ODS took 7. KDU-ČSL held all three of its seats and TOP 09 both of its seats. Turnout in the run-off was 21.12 percent.
Babiš called the result "catastrophic". He blamed weak voter mobilisation and shortcomings in the party's regional organisations. The government's strategy, however, will not change, he said. STAN leader Vít Rakušan said the vote showed that the opposition can beat the governing party and that STAN wants to become ANO's main rival at the next parliamentary election.
One third of the Senate is renewed every two years, and senators serve six-year terms. The opposition keeps control of the upper house; opposition-linked groups could hold 61 of the 81 seats, depending on negotiations. ANO still leads national opinion polls.