Babis admits ANO failure in Czech Senate elections

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis assessed the results of his political movement ANO in the recent Senate elections as "catastrophic". None of the party's 13 candidates who advanced to the second round secured a victory.

Need for internal strategy review

According to Babis, these results require a "reset" from ANO. The Prime Minister emphasised the necessity of a detailed analysis of the causes of the defeat and an assessment of the activities of party members. He stressed that the failure affected not only the Senate but also the municipal elections.

«Для нашого руху результат є катастрофічним. Як результати муніципальних, так і сенатських виборів» (For our movement, the result is catastrophic. Both the municipal and Senate election results), the Prime Minister commented on the voting outcomes.

Babis added that some party members mistakenly believe that the ANO brand guarantees a confident victory. "However, other parties did everything to bypass us," he noted.

Loss of positions in the upper house

Before the vote, Babis had stated his intention to change the balance of power in the upper house of parliament, where representatives of the pro-Western opposition currently dominate. However, the plans did not materialise: in the second round, none of ANO's 13 candidates won, and the political force lost the only seat in the Senate it had attempted to defend.

The ANO movement put forward candidates in 24 of the 27 electoral districts. They advanced to the second round in 13 districts, but only two took first place following the first round. After the first stage concluded, Babis had already acknowledged the complexity of the situation, noting that ANO remains the strongest political force in the country, "except for the Senate".

The party's faction in the Senate will now number 14 members – one fewer than before the elections.

Voting context and the role of the Senate

Elections were held in the Czech Republic on 16–17 October, during which a third of the 81-seat Senate was up for re-election. Although the lower house of parliament – the Chamber of Deputies – holds greater power in the legislative process, the Senate plays a key role in adopting constitutional amendments and approving judges of the Constitutional Court.