In a discussion programme on CNN Prima News yesterday ANO leader and former Prime Minister Andrej Babis said that Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD), currently in the parliamentary opposition alongside ANO, could possibly support a future ANO government. However, he said, the two parties have not been communicating much lately.
He added that ANO would like to see the Social Democrats (SOCDEM, formerly CSSD) or the Motorists get into the Chamber of Deputies.
In an interview with CTK this week, Babis ruled out forming a government with parties represented in the current cabinet, including the Pirates who left it last year. This includes the Civic Democrats (ODS), the Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL), TOP 09 and STAN.
As for SPD, led by Tomio Okamura, Babis said yesterday that the two parties were not communicating much with each other. “But I certainly think they could tolerate us, our government,” Babis said. He described Radim Fiala, head of the SPD parliamentary group and SPD deputy chairman, as a very reasonable MP.
Babis also said there was no need for a referendum on the Czech Republic’s withdrawal from the European Union, which SPD are calling for. He said the ‘Patriots for Europe’ faction in the European Parliament, of which ANO is a member, wants to change the EU for the better.
ANO’s candidate list in the Central Bohemia Region in the autumn general election should be led by former Czech education minister Robert Plaga, said Babis. He added that he would also appreciate it if some other ministers in his former government would run in the parliamentary elections, such as former health minister Adam Vojtech, now ambassador to Finland.
Babis said earlier that he would lead the candidate list in the Moravia-Silesian Region himself. Karel Havlicek, shadow prime minister and former minister of industry and trade and minister for transport, will lead the list in Prague. In the South Moravia Region, Alena Schillerova, the deputy chair of the ANO deputies’ group, will head the candidate list, Babis said yesterday.
It is not a priority for the ANO movement to obtain the post of foreign minister in the next government, said Babis, adding that he believed the position of prime minister is key. “A strong prime minister, in agreement with the president, can go to NATO meetings, is in the EU and does pragmatic foreign policy for the economic interests of the Czech Republic,” Babis said.
According to the media, ANO’s candidates for the post of foreign minister could include shadow foreign minister and MEP Jaroslav Bzoch, former lower house speaker Radek Vondracek, or Vojtech.
A number of politicians from the government coalition criticised Babis’s comments on the discussion show. On social media, Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said Babis had confessed that he hated the US and wanted more trade with China. “This is not what defending Czech interests looks like. The Czech Republic belongs to the West,” Lipavsky wrote.
Transport Minister Martin Kupka (ODS) accused Babis of “labelling, insulting and whining”, adding that the former prime minister is not a leader, but a populist who simply scares people.
According to the STEM model for CNN Prima News, ANO would win the parliamentary elections in January with 34.4% of the vote. The Spolu coalition, which includes ODS, KDU-CSL and TOP 09, would come second with 18.1%, followed by STAN with 9.9%. The opposition SPD and the Pirates would also clear the 5% threshold needed to enter the lower house, while Stacilo! and the Motorists would remain just below that threshold.
