ANO wins no Senate seats in Czechia as its voters stay home

The ANO movement failed to win a single seat in the Czech Senate in the second round of the elections. Almost all of its candidates received fewer votes in the runoff than in the first round, while their rivals often gained votes instead. Movement leader Andrej Babiš himself called the result a catastrophe.

According to Babiš, the explanation is simple: ANO failed to win over the voters of candidates eliminated in the first round, and also failed to bring out its own voters. The only exception was Lucie Kantorová in Plzeň.

Where ANO lost the most

The most striking example is Pelhřimov. ODS candidate and city mayor Ladislav Med added about a thousand votes between the rounds, probably motivating some of those whose candidates had not made it to the runoff to turn out as well. His ANO rival, Jindřichův Hradec mayor Michal Kozar, lost more than three thousand votes.

The result in Česká Lípa was especially painful. In the first round, MP Jitka Volfová led there with 15 thousand votes, while regional governor Martin Půta (STAN) trailed with 14 thousand. In the runoff Půta gained only slightly, with 14,287 votes. Volfová would have won comfortably simply by holding her first-round result, but 3,700 fewer voters turned out for her.

Losing Karviná

A similar story played out in Karviná, an ANO stronghold and the only district where the movement was defending a Senate seat. Orlová mayor Lenka Bržiskovská won the first round with more than eight thousand votes. Her rival Petr Kazik of the movement “Personalities for the Region” had received less than 3,500 at that point. But in the runoff Kazik needed only 5,800 votes, because Bržiskovská lost almost three thousand.

In Cheb, STAN senator Miroslav Plevný slightly improved his result, while his rival Sandra Cukerník lost 3,700 votes between the rounds. Before the first round she had lured voters with free concerts by Michal David; before the second she held no campaign events.

The only exception

Plzeň teacher Lucie Kantorová not only held her first-round result but added about 500 votes. It did not help her win, though: former chief of the general staff Karel Řehka (STAN) finished the race even stronger, attracting an additional 3,400 voters.

In the other districts, turnout fell for ANO’s rivals too, but noticeably less. Or they had such a cushion from the first round that losing votes changed nothing. In Přerov, both candidates, Jakub Navrátil (ODS) and Petr Vrána (ANO), entered the runoff with almost equal results, but Navrátil lost “only” two thousand votes, while Vrána lost five thousand. In Uherské Hradiště, Christian Democrat Josef Bazala led the first round by a huge margin, 21 thousand votes against 12.4 thousand for Jiří Vašica (ANO). Bazala lost more than six thousand supporters, but Vašica lost almost five thousand, and the outcome was clear.

Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz