Czech government in disarray after poor election results

The five-party ruling coalition in the Czech Republic is getting wobblier by the day.

Following the results of regional elections over the weekend, in which former Prime Minister Andrej Babiš scored a landslide victory, Prague finds itself in a pickle.

Babiš and his ANO party (Action of Dissatisfied Citizens) won 10 out of the country’s 13 regions on 35 percent of the vote, comprising 292 seats out of the 685 available and up sharply from ANO’s 21 percent in the last regional elections in 2020.

Meanwhile, the far-right SPD (Freedom and Direct Democracy) and communist party Stačilo! (Enough!) also performed better than expected, finishing in a tie for fifth on 32 seats each.

That’s bad news for the current government ahead of next year’s parliamentary elections.

Following the outcome, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala proposed the dismissal of Regional Development and Digitization Minister Ivan Bartoš on Tuesday, exposing deep instability in the ruling coalition and buoying the opposition.

Bartoš on Sunday resigned as chairman of the Pirate Party, a member of the ruling coalition, after it lost almost all the seats it had contested in the regional elections. The party had been badly hurt by a public outcry earlier this year following its failed digitization of the issuance of building permits.

But the way Bartoš’s departure was handled caused additional damage to the weakened coalition.

Fiala met with Bartoš in person on Tuesday, but only told him of his decision to fire him in a phone call later that day. Unaware of what was coming, the outgoing Pirate Party head at first said no changes in government would follow, only to condemn Fiala’s decision later as a “betrayal.” The PM refuted the charge in a post on X, and asked the Pirates to propose a new candidate for the ministry post.

The Pirate Party leadership soon took up the cudgel, however.

“We were kicked out of the government by ODS [Fiala’s ruling party] today, and it’s out of the question that we would come back to beg,” said Jakub Michálek, head of party’s parliamentary caucus.

The Pirate Party is reportedly now considering leaving the coalition, which would mean the departure of Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský and Legislation Minister Michal Šalomoun, following the ouster of Bartoš. It would also cut the cabinet’s strength in parliament to a slim majority.

Czech President Petr Pavel, whose approval is needed for cabinet dismissals, said he would meet with all the parties on Monday.

“What is important to me and to the citizens is that any change, if it occurs, does not affect the stability of the government,” Pavel said, adding that the recent spat threatens to bring down the government, which is not in anyone’s interest.

The Fiala government has the lowest public support of any administration in the Czech Republic since 2013. In a summer poll by the Center for Public Opinion Research, only 24 percent of respondents said they trust the cabinet following a series of unpopular decisions such as the reform of the country’s pension system earlier this year.