Headline Roundup • October 6th, 2025
Right-Wing Populist Andrej Babiš Wins Czech Election, Calls for Ukraine Aid Reform
Summary from the AllSides News Team
The right-wing populist ANO party, led by businessman and former Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, won the Czech Republic’s parliamentary elections on Saturday, securing 80 of 200 seats.
Ukraine Stance: One part of Babiš’ platform mentioned prominently in international media is his ambition to scale back Czech aid to Ukraine. Since 2022, Czechia has delivered 3.5 million shells to Ukraine as part of a government initiative about which little is known publicly. Babiš has criticized the initiative for its lack of transparency and criticized Czech arms dealers for making huge profits from it. He has said he would rather the operation be turned over to NATO’s oversight instead. After securing victory on Saturday, Babiš told a Ukrainian journalist that Ukraine “is not ready for” the European Union.
Election Results: To form a government, ANO must partner with other parties to reach at least 101 parliamentary seats. Current Prime Minister Peter Fiala’s POLU coalition won 52 seats, the liberal Mayors and Independents (STAN) party won 22 seats, and the progressive Pirates party finished fourth with 18 seats. The right-wing SPD and Motorists parties, which Babiš said he aims to form a coalition with, won 15 and 13 seats, respectively. Earlier this year, SPD called for Czechia to leave the EU and voiced support for a referendum on NATO membership. The Motorists has previously criticized EU leadership for some of its climate and transport policies.
For Context: To Czechia’s south, within the EU, both Slovakia and Hungary currently have populist right-wing prime ministers who are skeptical of delivering more aid to Ukraine and certain EU policies.
How The Media Covered It: Western media outlets across the spectrum prominently described Babiš as a “billionaire,” often highlighting this before mentioning that he previously served as prime minister. Britain’s The Telegraph (Lean Right bias) described him as a “‘Trumpist’ billionaire” in its headline. Hungarian Conservative (Lean Right) described him as an “ally” of its Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and did not mention his wealth. Kremlin-funded RT (Lean Right) ran several headlines that framed the result as a defeat for EU leadership.
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Featured Coverage of this Story
The right-wing ANO party won the parliamentary election held on 3–4 October 2025 in Czechia. ANO secured 80 out of the 200 seats in the Parliament of the Czech Republic, far ahead of the runner-up centre-right ODS-SPOLU coalition, which won 52 seats.
However, they still fell short of the 101 seats needed for a majority, thus negotiations to form a governing coalition have started, potentially with the far-right SDP or the right-wing populist AUTO party (also known as the Motorists)...
Billionaire businessman Andrej Babis has won parliamentary elections in the Czech Republic, although his populist ANO party fell short of an overall majority.
ANO received just under 35% of the vote, earning them 80 seats in the 200-seat lower house – up from 72 seats four years ago, according to preliminary results.
Babis – who served as prime minister from 2017 to 2021 – is expected to be invited to lead talks on forming a new coalition.
Martin Divíšek/EPA
The populist billionaire Andrej Babiš has won the Czech Republic parliamentary elections, preliminary results show, but fallen short of the overall majority.
This win marks a political comeback for Babiš, who was prime minister from 2017 to 2021. He is expected to put the country on a course away from supporting Ukraine and towards Hungary and Slovakia, who have taken a pro-Russian path.
With the votes from almost 98% of polling stations counted by the Czech statistics office, Babiš’s ANO (YES) party captured 35% of the vote, followed by the...
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