PRAGUE: Billionaire Andrej Babi&scaron; became another populist leader in Central Europe to stage a political comeback by winning big in the Czech Republic&rsquo;s parliamentary election, according to nearly complete results Saturday. That result could steer the country away from supporting Ukraine and toward Hungary and Slovakia, which have taken a pro-Russian path. With the results of 99.5% of the polling stations counted by the Statistics Office, Babi&scaron;&rsquo; ANO (YES) movement captured 34.7% of the vote, soundly beating the Together conservative coalition of Prime Minister Petr Fiala, which received 23.2%. Babi&scaron; was jubilant after his best electoral result, calling it &ldquo;historic&rdquo; for himself and his &ldquo;catch-all&rdquo; political group, as it had stormed into national politics in 2013. &ldquo;We want the Czech Republic to become the best place for life in the European Union, and we will do everything to make it happen,&rdquo; he told his supporters and media. With the victory, Babi&scaron; would join the ranks of Prime Ministers Viktor Orb&aacute;n of Hungary and Robert Fico of Slovakia, whose countries have refused to provide military aid to Ukraine, continue to import Russian oil, and oppose European Union sanctions on Russia. The Czech Republic has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine since Russia&rsquo;s full-scale invasion in February 2022. The country has donated arms, including heavy weapons, to the Ukrainian armed forces and is behind an initiative that acquires artillery shells Ukraine badly needs from countries outside the EU. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t like it,&rdquo; Babi&scaron; said about that internationally recognized initiative. &ldquo;We have a different view of it,&rdquo; he said. The opposition, led by Babi&scaron;, blamed Fiala for all the troubles of recent years, from the energy crisis to soaring inflation, and pledged to revoke his pension reform and assistance to Ukraine. Fiala congratulated him, saying the result was clear and &ldquo;it&rsquo;s necessary to accept it.&rdquo; His campaign focused on security amid the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine. A group of mayors, known as STAN, also a member of Fiala&rsquo;s government, garnered 11.1% of the vote, with another ally of Fiala, the Pirate Party, securing 8.7%. The major anti-migrant force, the Freedom and Direct Democracy party, got 7.9%, while a right-wing group calling itself the Motorists collected 6.8%. Babi&scaron; said he aimed to form a one-party government, and he will have to seek tolerance from the two groups. The two-day election filled 200 seats in the lower house of the Czech parliament. Babi&scaron; won 80 seats, the Freedom Party has 15, and the Motorists have 13. The Together coalition won 52. He joined forces with his friend Orb&aacute;n last year to create a new alliance in the European Parliament, the &ldquo;Patriots for Europe,&rdquo; which represents hard-right groups, a significant shift from the liberal Renew group to which Babi&scaron; previously belonged. The Patriots are united by anti-migrant rhetoric, a critical stance toward EU policies addressing climate change, and a commitment to protecting national sovereignty. The Motorists, who former EU-skeptic President V&aacute;clav Klaus backs, share those views, while the Freedom party wants to lead the country out of the EU and NATO and plans to expel almost all of the approximately 380,000 Ukrainian refugees from the country. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re clearly pro-European and pro-NATO,&rdquo; Babi&scaron; still declared after the victory. President Petr Pavel is scheduled to meet with Babi&scaron; and other party leaders on Sunday. The head of the strongest political force usually gets a chance from the president to form a new government. If he wants to govern alone, his minority Cabinet would need at least tacit support from the Freedom Party and the Motorists to win a mandatory parliamentary confidence vote to rule. The result was a fiasco for a coalition of four far-left fringe parties led by the maverick Communists, who are openly pro-Russian and failed to win a seat.

Czech Republic's Prime Minister and leader of coalition of three conservative parties called "Together" Petr Fiala addresses the media during the parliamentary elections in Prague, Czech Republic, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

Europe

Becomes another populist leader in Central Europe to stage a political comeback by winning, and vows to make the Czech Republic the best place for life in the European Union.

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Populist billionaire Andrej Babiš wins Czech parliamentary election