Prague: Czech voters began casting ballots on Friday in a two-day general election that could steer the country away from supporting Ukraine and toward Hungary and Slovakia, threatening to further divide the European Union and NATO.
Billionaire Andrej Babis is predicted to be the latest populist leader in Central Europe to stage a political comeback. Opinion polls put the former prime minister on course for victory over a pro-Western coalition led by Petr Fiala that defeated him in the 2021 ballot.
His victory would be a boost for Viktor Orban of Hungary and Robert Fico of Slovakia, whose countries have refused to provide military aid to Ukraine, continue to import Russian oil and oppose sanctions on Russia.
Fiala has warned against a victory for Babis as Russia continues its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Last year, Babis, along with his friend Orban, co-founded a new alliance in the European Parliament, “Patriots for Europe,” a significant shift from the liberal Renew group he previously belonged to.
The Patriots represent Babis’s refusal of EU policies on migration and climate change and support for the protection of national sovereignty.
Babis has denied sharing the pro-Russian stance of many members of the group, but questioned a Czech initiative that uses the country’s long-term global contacts to acquire artillery shells for Ukraine on markets outside the EU. He has also refused to fully endorse a NATO commitment to significantly increase defence spending.
Babis has been a divisive figure since he joined Czech national politics in 2013. A member of the Communist Party before the anti-Communist 1989 Velvet Revolution in the former Czechoslovakia, he has drawn comparisons to US President Donald Trump and faces fraud charges in a case involving EU subsidies. His scandals have not harmed his popular support. His populist ANO (YES) movement, which he defined as a “catch-all” party, lost the parliamentary election in October 2021 after a turbulent term, including the COVID-19 pandemic.