Czech Senate election runoff: ANO loses, STAN and ODS win

In the second round of the Czech Senate elections, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš's ANO movement won virtually no seats: none of its 13 runoff candidates is heading for victory. STAN and ODS took the most seats. Senators were elected in twenty-two districts, and another five winners had already been decided in the first round.

Who won

STAN defended the most seats this year: it fielded fourteen candidates, two of whom won in the first round and another eight in the second. ODS also had reason to celebrate, as almost all of its candidates won the runoff. The exception was opera singer Dagmar Pecková, who lost in Prague 9 to STAN's David Smoljak. The Christian Democrats, who defended three seats, are pleased too, and TOP 09 had only one candidate reach the runoff, Tomáš Třetina, who won.

ANO was defending just one seat; 13 of its candidates made it to the runoff but none succeeded. Babiš's party traditionally performs poorly in second rounds, as he himself said a week ago: “The runoff will be the usual story, everyone will unite against us.”

The biggest contests

The most attention went to the Česká Lípa district, where Martin Půta (SLK), governor of the Liberec Region, beat MP and former town mayor Jitka Volfová (ANO) by about ten percentage points, even though Volfová had led by three in the first round. Once he becomes a senator, Půta will have to leave his post as governor. Volfová explained the result by saying that voters of other parties had united against ANO once again.

In Plzeň, Karel Řehka (STAN), the former Chief of the General Staff of the Army, defeated teacher and deputy mayor Lucie Kantorová (ANO), keeping a lead of almost twenty percentage points. Řehka said he ran a positive campaign and never encountered any hatred, social media aside.

In Přerov, Jakub Navařík (ODS) finished about thirteen percentage points ahead of Petr Vrána (ANO). Navařík is 40 years and one month old, making him the youngest man ever elected to the Senate.

Disappointment in Karviná and the opposition's infighting

Karviná was considered ANO's main stronghold, and the party was defending the seat there. ANO candidate and Orlová mayor Lenka Bžiškovská led at the start of the count but about an hour later fell behind Petr Kazík (OK). Analysts had predicted success for ANO precisely here, since Karviná has long been seen as the movement's bastion. Sandra Coukernik, who campaigned together with Michal David, also failed to get into the Senate: incumbent senator Miroslav Plevný kept a large lead.

In nine districts, opposition candidates competed against one another. In Brno-City, Zdeněk Papoušek (a coalition led by ODS) beat Karel Zitterbart (STAN). In Kladno, Petr Patak (ODS) held on to his seat against Adéla Suchardová Šipová, nominated by the broad Pirate coalition, with a margin of less than one percent. In Prague 5, Václav Láska (SEN21) won about five percentage points more than Radko Sablík. In Prague 1, Jiří Padevět (STAN) won, ahead of Jan Čižinský (“Prague for Itself”).

An unexpected twist came in Hradec Králové: former minister Martin Dvořák led in the first round, but ODS candidate Zuzana Ceralová Petrofová won the second.

Read also: Brno: what to see and where to go

Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz