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Babiš begins talks to become PM as Czech president insists on 'pro-western' direction
The Guardian
|October 06, 2025
Andrej Babiš has met the Czech president, Petr Pavel, and is to hold talks with other party leaders as the billionaire populist begins trying to form a stable government after his ANO (Yes) party won parliamentary elections, but failed to secure a majority.
Final results showed ANO won 34.5% of the vote translating to a provisional 80 seats in the 200-member parliament. The centre-right Spolu coalition of the outgoing prime minister, Petr Fiala, came second on 23.4%. "I have promised to ... show the president a solution that will be in line with Czech and European laws," Babiš, a polarising figure whose previous premiership from 2017 to 2021 drew mass protests, said as the talks got under way on Sunday.
Pavel said afterwards that he would not attempt to appoint a new government until November, adding that he would insist on “a pro-western direction” for the country and “the preservation of all the institutions of a democratic state”.
This story is from the October 06, 2025 edition of The Guardian.
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