Billionaire populist Andrej Babis has swept back to the forefront of Czech politics after his ANO (meaning “yes” in Czech) party emerged as the single biggest party in the country’s parliamentary election held this weekend. It managed just under 35% of the vote, securing 80 of the 200 seats in the lower house. The result marks a gain of eight seats since the last election, but leaves Babis short of a governing majority.

Speaking to cheering supporters in the Czech capital, Prague, the former prime minister declared the outcome a: “historic success” and vowed to make the Czech Republic: “the best place to live in the European Union”. Despite signalling a desire for ANO to govern alone, coalition arithmetic suggests that in the interest of forming a stable government Babis will need to bring in coalition partners. Observers believe that the most likely candidates for these negotiations are two smaller right-wing eurosceptic parties, Motorists for Themselves and Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD), to form a majority. Motorists for Themselves won 13 seats and the SPD won 15 seats.

ANO shares common ground with Motorists for Themselves, including opposition to the Green Deal punted by the European Union (EU) and to a planned 2035 ban on new petrol and diesel cars. Both ANO and Motorists for Themselves belong to the: “Patriots for Europe” bloc in the European parliament, launched by Hungary’s Viktor Orban and Austria’s Herbert Kickl. Relations with the far-right SPD, however, may prove more strained with its call for referendums on EU and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) membership clashing with Babis’s stated red lines.

Foreign policy could also shift. Babis has pledged to end the Czech ammunition initiative that has delivered 3.5 million shells to Ukraine since 2022, calling for NATO oversight instead. He insists, however, that his government would remain a reliable Western partner, dismissing media claims to the contrary and recalling strong ties with the United States during his previous term.