Leaders of the Czech Republic’s governing parties will gather in Prague on Tuesday evening, August 26th, to publicly reaffirm their refusal to enter post-election negotiations with Andrej Babiš’ ANO movement, the country’s dominant opposition force.
Prime Minister Petr Fiala, head of the centre-right Spolu coalition, and Interior Minister Vít Rakušan of the centrist-liberal Mayors and Independents (STAN), will symbolically declare their determination to keep Babiš out of power.
The left-wing Pirate Party, a former coalition partner that left government last autumn, was also invited, but its leader Zdeněk Hřib has declined to attend, calling instead for formal party votes against cooperation with ANO.
While the event is framed as a show of unity, analysts note it is also a campaign manoeuvre in the hot phase of an election battle where ANO, the movement that belongs to the sovereignist-Eurosceptic Patriots for Europe (PfE) group, holds a commanding lead.
Yet despite these pledges, Babiš appears unlikely to need the parties of the governing bloc to form a government after the elections on October 3-4.
With opinion polls consistently placing ANO at around 32-33%—well ahead of Spolu’s 20-21%—the billionaire former prime minister could form a government with support from other opposition forces.
These include Tomio Okamura’s nationalist Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD), currently polling between 11-14%, and the anti-establishment left-wing Stačilo! alliance led by the Communists and Social Democrats, which hovers around 7-8%.
Smaller groups, such as the right-wing Motorists’ Party, may also play a role.
The opinion polls point to the steady rise of anti-establishment forces, parties opposed to the policies of Brussels—ranging from military aid to Ukraine to the EU’s Green Deal and migration quotas.
If the polling numbers are correct, the election results would mark a profound shift for the Central European nation whose current government has been among Kyiv’s strongest European backers and a consistent supporter of EU legislation.
The governing Spolu and STAN are struggling with declining popularity amid austerity measures aimed at reining in a swelling budget deficit. Welfare cuts, tax hikes, and a contentious pension reform have alienated voters, while surging defence spending has proved divisive.
Babiš, by contrast, has promised to scrap the reforms, cut taxes and raise social benefits, casting himself as a defender of ordinary citizens against an out-of-touch elite.
The political drama is further heightened by a court ruling in June that overturned Babiš’s earlier acquittal in a long-running subsidy ‘fraud’ case, forcing a retrial just months before polling day.
Supporters claim the timing reflects political interference designed to derail his comeback. Babiš himself has likened the case to lawfare of the kind seen elsewhere in Europe, insisting he is being persecuted because “no one could corrupt me.”
