What the Czech media are writing about: ANO lost in the big cities, support fell below thirty percent. Coalitions are bypassing it in many of them

Municipal and Senate elections held over the past weekend redrew the balance of power in the Czech Republic: the ANO movement lost in several major cities and its support fell below thirty percent in a post-election poll, while according to iROZHLAS, STAN chairman Vít Rakušan could become the new opposition leader. Municipal coalitions are now being formed across the country – ANO has been pushed out of the leadership in Liberec, Pardubice and Sokolov; in Brno, the new coalition bypassed it, while elsewhere it retained control. Meanwhile, a Luxembourg court quietly blocked ČEZ’s stakes in local gas companies in the thirty-year-old Diag Human case, which could also complicate the planned division of the energy company, and industry is criticising the proposed refinery tax. Babiš has meanwhile quarrelled with ANO leaders in the cities where the movement lost; according to a poll cited by Forum24, STAN is continuing to grow, and the prime minister criticised BIS chief Michal Koudelka for publicly warning about Russian provocations – the opposition called it a scandal.

ANO falls in the big cities, support drops below thirty percent

Newsrooms frame the municipal and Senate election results very differently. iROZHLAS writes of a “coup” in Ústí and a “robbery” in Brno, and notes that both ANO and ODS lost the elections, while Vít Rakušan could become the opposition leader iROZHLAS ↗. Forum24 is more pointed – it speaks directly of “Andrej Babiš’s departure” and claims that ANO and SPD’s electoral defeat has opened a new era Forum24 ↗.

The figures support this. info.cz writes that ANO lost the big cities and fell below thirty percent in a post-election poll info.cz ↗. Deník N analyses a new NMS election model for Novinky, according to which ANO would receive 28.8 percent – according to the newspaper, it has not been this weak for a long time Deník N ↗.

Lidovky.cz, however, warns against an unequivocally triumphant framing – STAN won, it says, but has not yet won everything, just as ODS has not entirely lost Lidovky.cz ↗. ODS chairman Martin Kupka also commented directly, saying that the result in Prague and Brno is “of course not” a success iDNES.cz ↗. The difference between the headlines therefore mainly lies in whether the elections are read as a definitive turning point or merely as the first step in a longer battle for opposition leadership.

The governor Jan Grolich is a symbol of personal success amid the party’s decline – according to Novinky, he achieved a historic record in the Senate elections, helped by fellow candidate Zitterbart and weak competition Novinky.cz ↗.

Babiš is dissatisfied with the results of some ANO leaders – according to Seznam Zprávy, he claims they “did not try hard enough” during the campaign and relied only on the familiar brand. Leaders in České Budějovice, Jihlava and Ostrava, for example, reject this and instead point to smaller campaign budgets, stronger competition and the disadvantage of being the governing movement Seznam Zprávy ↗.

While ANO is arguing with itself, a poll cited in a Forum24 commentary gives STAN 18 percent and a six-point lead over ODS; the author describes it as a movement with a “winning mentality” that offers voters a clear “Anti-Babiš” direction Forum24 ↗. A poll-of-polls summary for Aktuálně.cz claims that ANO’s decline is gathering pace and that Babiš already knows who will “go after him” Aktuálně.cz ↗. Senator Jan Grolich is also becoming the opposition’s new star according to Hospodářské noviny, which nevertheless notes that he still has to prove it over more than one weekend iHNed.cz ↗, while KDU-ČSL MP Jan Bartošek attributes the Christian Democrats’ success to Grolich’s “wit and perspective” in Forum24 Forum24 ↗.

Babiš attacks BIS chief, opposition speaks of a scandal

BIS director Michal Koudelka warned at a security conference in the Chamber of Deputies on Monday about planned Russian provocations against NATO member states and, according to a Deník N summary, said that other European intelligence services had similar information Deník N ↗. Representatives of the governing coalition did not attend the conference.

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš subsequently criticised Koudelka and told him to read the counterintelligence motto “audi, vide, tace” (“listen, watch, remain silent”) – according to Babiš, such information belongs to the government, not the public. Former foreign minister Jan Lipavský (ODS) called the prime minister’s statements “scandalous and inappropriate” and recalled that Babiš should defend the country against Russian influence, rather than burying his head in the sand – “but that would require him not to govern with pro-Russian extremists,” he added, referring to SPD Forum24 ↗. STAN chairman Vít Rakušan reacted more cautiously, but pointed out that the threat is real and that the public deserves factual information.

In its Česká jízda podcast, info.cz links the dispute to warnings from Western intelligence services that Moscow is intensifying attempts to remove the heads of key European arms companies, and asks how the security crisis will reshuffle the coalition’s cards – including the position of SPD chief Tomio Okamura, whose “seat is wobbling” according to political insiders info.cz ↗.

Coalition-building: ANO is losing control, but remains in charge elsewhere

The most visible consequence of the elections is in city halls. In Brno, according to iROZHLAS, all parties except ANO are expected to agree and the Christian Democrat Hruška should become mayor iROZHLAS ↗. In Liberec, the Mayors formed a coalition with Lepší Liberec and the joint LOL+Piráti list, leaving ANO in opposition iDNES.cz ↗. The same scenario unfolded in Sokolov, where a new coalition of three groups agreed and ANO will end up in opposition Deník ↗, and in Pardubice, where the movement is leaving city leadership after twelve years and will be replaced by a five-party coalition Novinky.cz ↗.

The picture is not the same everywhere, however. In Karlovy Vary, ANO retained control of the city – it will govern in coalition with Karlovaráci and ODS, with only one additional deputy joining the leadership iROZHLAS ↗. ANO deputy prime minister Karel Havlíček calls the loss of some cities “unacceptable”, although he says winning five Senate seats would be a success e15.cz ↗. In Prague, a petition opposing ODS joining STAN’s winning coalition was launched, Lidovky.cz reports Lidovky.cz ↗. The picture from city halls is therefore varied: ANO has lost the leading position in several regional capitals, retained it elsewhere, and the final composition of Prague’s coalition is not yet clear.

Negotiations over Prague’s leadership continue – STAN is in a favourable position, while according to political scientist Jakub Čapek neither ODS nor the Pirates can be satisfied, Seznam Zprávy writes; Babiš himself also sent a message to the city’s future rulers over the weekend Seznam Zprávy ↗.

Changes in city leadership are continuing outside the regional capitals as well – Ctirad Mikeš is returning to the head of Mělník after four years with a new coalition that wants to focus on a wastewater treatment plant and the town square, iROZHLAS writes iROZHLAS ↗.

The newcomer on the scene is Governor Martin Kuba’s Naše Česko movement – according to iROZHLAS, it “steamrolled” the competition in the South Bohemian Region and confirmed its strong regional position, but did not perform nearly as well outside the region, apart from a historic triumph in Ústí nad Labem, where it won only a small number of seats iROZHLAS ↗.

The second round of the Senate election and the unresolved dispute over inclusion

Candidates in districts where no one won an outright majority advanced to the second round of the Senate elections, held on 16 and 17 October, Seznam Zprávy writes Seznam Zprávy ↗. iDNES.cz announces that the second round will bring interesting contests – among the candidates are a singer, a general and the partner of the “casino king” iDNES.cz ↗. According to the first-round results, the opposition is expected to dominate the resulting Senate, and ODS’s Miloš Vystrčil will probably retain the presidency Novinky.cz ↗.

Meanwhile, the government has made no progress on a dispute that had already continued from the previous week. According to Novinky, the coalition is still arguing over the revision of inclusion in education Novinky.cz ↗. Petr Macinka’s Motorists are pushing for a change under which a school principal would also have the right to refuse a pupil with dyslexia – iHNed.cz writes that this could affect hundreds of thousands of children iHNed.cz ↗. iDNES.cz summarises that inclusion is dividing the coalition and that it once again failed to agree on teaching assistants iDNES.cz ↗. This is a continuation of the dispute over Education Minister Robert Plaga’s amendment, which already appeared in the previous edition – so no agreement was reached over the course of a week.

State finances: ČEZ runs into an old case, refinery tax criticised

A Luxembourg court blocked ČEZ’s stakes in local gas companies, Deník reports Deník ↗. This is a reverberation of the thirty-year-old Diag Human case, in which businessman Josef Šťáva is seeking approximately 17 billion korunas in compensation from the state e15.cz ↗. iHNed.cz writes that the case could also complicate the planned division of the energy company iHNed.cz ↗.

The second line of financial affairs concerns Agrofert. Seznam Zprávy writes that the state company Čepro paid 19 billion korunas to the conglomerate associated with Andrej Babiš without a public tender, while Čepro claims that the public procurement law does not apply to the payments Seznam Zprávy ↗. This is the company’s own claim, not a finding by a supervisory body, and the headline labels it as such.

The third major issue is the planned special tax on refineries. iDNES.cz writes that the Confederation of Industry and Transport is criticising it in an open letter to the prime minister, urging the government to abandon the plan or at least soften the tax’s parameters; after a cabinet meeting, Babiš called approval of the law one of the current priorities iDNES.cz ↗. The proposal has moved forward – according to iDNES.cz, MPs are beginning to debate the government proposal to introduce an extraordinary tax on refinery margin growth for this year and next, with the government justifying the measure by developments in the global oil market iDNES.cz ↗. The government and industry are thus on opposite sides of a dispute whose outcome will determine how much the state ultimately collects from refineries.

Under the radar

According to Deník, Hnutí DUHA claims that MP Filip Turek (Motorists) did not properly apologise for a statement linking the organisation to deaths during floods, and wants to enforce an apology through legal execution Deník ↗. This is the environmental organisation’s claim, not a court decision.

Respekt writes that Defence Minister Jaromír Zůna wanted to fly to a controversial conference in China at a cost of 161,000 korunas Respekt ↗. iROZHLAS also points out that people’s birth numbers remained hidden in the new commercial register and asks who might have accessed them iROZHLAS ↗.

Seznam Zprávy writes that unauthorised structures have appeared on land belonging to state official Adam Vlk and are being used by aviation companies controlled by his father, a sponsor of the Motorists; if unlawful conduct is established, younger Vlk could lose his position, according to Transport Minister Bednárik Seznam Zprávy ↗.

The elections also brought a new development – candidates who promised to halt wind power plants failed in the Senate, but won municipal elections in several municipalities, including Mirovice on the border between the South Bohemian and Central Bohemian regions, Ekonomický deník writes Ekonomický deník ↗.

Limits of this view

We work from the headlines and introductions of RSS articles, not all their full texts, so some details remain only claims made by particular newsrooms. In the coalition negotiations, which have not yet been concluded in many cities, we report the situation at the time of collection – the final composition of city halls may still change.

What hotinfo is monitoring