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Central Europe
November 24, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 11
Babis threatens Czech election losers with nightmare scenario
Robert Anderson in Prague
Billionaire populist Andrej Babis has edged closer to becoming Czech premier after his Ano party’s candidate was elected parliamentary speaker
on November 22. However, Babis’s nominee was backed only by extremist or non-traditional par- ties, heightening fears that he will be forced to offer critical concessions to the extremists to win their support for his government.
Radek Vondracek won the support of 135 deputies in the 200-seat parliament to become speaker. In the secret ballot he is thought to have won back- ing from Ano’s 78 representatives plus the hardine Communists (15) and neo-fascist Freedom and Direct Democracy party (22), together with the Czech Pirate Party (22).
Now that the speaker has been elected, Social Democratic Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka is expected to resign on November 27. This would enable President Milos Zeman to appoint Babis in his place on December 6, the president's office said on November 23. The agrochemicals billion- aire’s political vehicle convincingly won general elections earlier this month, crushing the Social Democrats (CSSD) with whom he had ruled in a quarrelsome coalition for four years.
So far the traditional democratic parties have refused to join Babis in government or support
a minority administration led by him because he has been charged with a fraudulent receipt of EU funds. On November 21, Czech police resubmitted an application to lift Babis’ parliamentary im-
Andrej Babis could be nominated as premier on December 6.
munity from prosecution, something that will be voted on in the next couple of weeks. Babis, who denies the charges, has so far refused to stand aside to allow another Ano politician to become premier.
Babis would prefer to work with the traditional parties, which would give the alleged former Communist secret police agent international credibility. He is therefore engaging in a game of brinkmanship by flirting with the extremists.
The Communists have offered to support Babis as prime minister in a vote of confidence, while remaining outside the government, while political commentators believe Tomio Okamura’s Freedom and Democracy Party (SPD) could also give its backing. This would give Babis 115 votes, enough to win a confidence vote.
Both extremist parties have already been reward- ed with leadership of key parliamentary commit- tees. Stalinist Stanislav Grospic has been elected chair of the mandate immunity committee, which will decide on whether to lift Babis’ immunity from prosecution, while SPD deputy Radek Kotan is likely to chair the security committee. Kotan is a regulator disseminator of Russian fake news and has said that the Czech Republic “lives under a Euro-fascist totalitarianism".
The Communists are ambivalent about EU mem- bership and want to leave Nato, while the SPD
is ambivalent about Nato and wants to leave the