Babiš plans ANO purge after Czech Senate election defeat

The governing ANO movement won no seats in the Senate in the second round of the election — for the first time since the party was founded. Party leader and Prime Minister Andrej Babiš announced a “reset” of the party on Saturday and promised to find out who in it is working and who is not.

ANO had thirteen candidates in the second round. The defeat in the Karviná district was especially painful: the movement was defending its only seat in the upper house there and traditionally enjoys strong support. Candidate Lenka Břiškovská, the mayor of Orlová, came out of the first round with a solid lead over her rival Petr Kazík (OK), but lost in the second.

Babiš looks for someone to blame

“For ANO the result is catastrophic; we certainly did not think we would get no senators at all. We need to understand how and why this happened. Who in the movement is working, and who has privatized the regional organizations. Some people think that having the brand means a guaranteed win,” Babiš said right after the votes were counted.

The municipal election results are not encouraging either. ANO won in six of the 13 regional capitals, compared with eight four years ago. The party lost some of its northern strongholds, such as Ústí nad Labem. In Prague ANO got just 14.36% and finished only fourth, and in Brno it came third. Babiš called the result in the capital a “total failure”, but still praised Prague leader Jan Hušbauer, who joined the campaign after Ondřej Prokop left.

Three regions under pressure

The Moravian-Silesian Region used to be regarded as an ANO stronghold: in last year’s Chamber of Deputies election the party took 43% of the vote there. Now it has lost the Senate races in Karviná and Ostrava and weakened in most of the region’s large cities. According to Babiš, the local branches failed to mobilize voters, and that is their fault: the party committee will meet, and some branches will need extraordinary congresses. First Deputy Chairman Karel Havlíček promised to take charge of the Ostrava region and to hold on to positions in Karlovy Vary and Zlín. The seat of regional governor Josef Bělica is also in question; according to an economic daily, Babiš is allegedly ready to remove him after the elections.

In the Ústí Region, where ANO used to win with confidence, the party lost the city hall in Ústí nad Labem: it was beaten by the broad “One Ústí” coalition. Babiš blames longtime mayor Petr Nedvědický — “a bad mayor, as we have known for a long time”. In Chomutov the movement lost 10% of its voters, and in Děčín and Louny ANO candidates lost Senate races to STAN representatives. The position of the regional chairman, MP Jan Richter, with whom Babiš has clashed more than once, especially after the corruption case in Chomutov two years ago, is also in doubt.

In the Liberec Region the party lost both races. Regional chairwoman and MP Jitka Volfová failed to win the Senate seat in the Česká Lípa district, where she lost to governor Martin Puta (SLK), and in the municipal election ANO, led by her, came second, just narrowly behind the “Living Lípa” association. Volfová believes it is too early to draw conclusions: the result in Česká Lípa is slightly worse than last time, but “over 33% is not bad for the republic”. She does not apply Babiš’s words about those who do not work to herself. However, the party has had problems with local activists in the region: last year ANO’s leadership dissolved the local branch, and some members left and founded the “Better Liberec” project, which has now won 11 seats and overtaken ANO.

Political scientist: in a normal party the leader would resign

According to political scientist Michal Pink, a significant share of the blame lies with Babiš himself. “In an established party the chairman would resign and they would decide what to do next. Now Babiš is in a worse position than Mirek Topolánek in 2008, when he kept only Prague and the Social Democrats won everywhere else,” the expert says.

The main problem, he says, is a lack of personnel: “The question is whether Babiš has any heads left. Where are Martin Stropnický, Petr Vokřál, Robert Pelikán, Ivan Pilný? The desire to go into battle in an election wearing an Andrej Babiš T-shirt will fade if people know the brand is not perfect.”

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Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz