Prague, 5 October 2025 (dpa/MIA) - The right-wing billionaire populist Andrej Babiš said he would seek to form a minority government led solely by his ANO (Yes) party after emerging as the winner of the Czech parliamentary election on Saturday.

After four years in opposition and a defeat in the 2023 presidential election, Babiš, 71, has made a political comeback.

The 71-year-old told supporters in Prague on Saturday night that he would aim for a one-colour government. He said he would look to secure outside support from two smaller parties – the newly formed motorists' party and the far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy party (SPD).

Final results showed ANO winning 34.6% of the vote, up nearly 7.5 percentage points from 2021, giving his party 80 of the 200 seats in the lower house. The centre-right coalition Spolu ("Together") led by Prime Minister Petr Fiala fell to 23.3% from 27.8% in the previous election, while the previously co-governing Mayors' Party took 11.2%.

Czech President Pavel to open coalition talks

President Petr Pavel is set to begin consultations with party leaders on the formation of a new government on Sunday, starting with Babiš at Prague Castle. The constitution grants Pavel considerable discretion in deciding whom to task to form a government, though it is usually the faction with the most mandates.

Babiš, a former prime minister, campaigned on halting arms supplies to Ukraine, cutting taxes and energy costs and opposing both the EU's asylum and migration pact and its Green Deal.

When it comes to EU political parties, ANO has shifted and now aligns with Viktor Orbán's Fidesz party from Hungary, Austria's Freedom Party (FPÖ), and Marine Le Pen's National Rally in France.

"Truth has prevailed," Orbán wrote on X, calling it a "big step" for the Czech Republic. Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, seen as pro-Russian, congratulated Babiš by phone on his election victory.

Babiš faces bargaining with smaller parties

It remains unclear what concessions Babiš may have to make to potential kingmakers in order to secure tolerance for his future government. The Freedom and Direct Democracy party is demanding not only the option of a referendum on leaving the EU and NATO – which Babiš rejects – but also the return of more than 383,000 Ukrainian refugees to their homeland. The party won about 7.8% of the vote.

The motorists' party, which took 6.8%, is pushing for a rollback of the planned 2035 phase-out of combustion engines.

Every four years, all 200 seats in the Czech Republic's Chamber of Deputies, the more important chamber of the bicameral parliament in Prague, is elected

The Czech Republic has been a NATO partner since 1999 and an EU member since 2004. The country shares a border of more than 800 kilometres with Germany.