Vienna/Bern, Oct 10 (CTK) – The liberal populist ANO scored a triumph in the weekend regional and Senate elections in the Czech Republic and if it makes no mistake, its leader Andrej Babis will replace Bohuslav Sobotka as prime minister next year, the Austrian and Swiss media outlets write yesterday.
Babis is a “Czech response to Trump ” or a “Czech Berlusconi,” the papers write.
“In a way, Andrej Babis is a Czech response to Donald Trump, with the difference that Babis has partly reached his goal,” the server nachrichten.at writes.
Just like Trump, Babis promises to run the state like a business and to put an end to corruption. However, the businesses of the empire owned by the Czech billionaire are being investigated by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), the server writes.
The ANO leader has adroitly made most use of Czech voters’ general disgust at the political establishment, it adds.
ANO’s victory in the regional and Senate elections was not hampered even by its taking part in the government, the server writes.
Babis is poised to head the government next year, nachrichten.at writes.
The view is shared by Swiss Neue Zurcher Zeitung (NZZ).
“The Czech Berlusconi” has “scored a triumph” in the regional and Senate elections, NZZ writes.
ANO has thus avoided the tradition of Czech populist parties which were often harmed by their participation in the government, it adds.
Sobotka’s Social Democrats (CSSD) have suffered a “bitter defeat” in the regional elections, NZZ writes.
ANO’s victory over the Social Democrats is due to Babis’ being still able to depict himself as an “antipolitician,” setting the tone in a government with a “lacklustre prime minister,” it adds.
Austrian Der Standard writes that the Social Democrats’ defeat will step up the pressure on Sobotka from within the party.
The paper also highlights the failure of “anti-Islamic entomologist” Martin Konvicka who lost his bid for the post of a senator.
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