Billionaire Andrej Babis set to become next prime minister of Czech Republic
The Czech media mogul said he had invited other parties for talks on forming a coalition government.
Czech billionaire Andrej Babis is set to become the next prime minister of the Czech Republic after his party, ANO, won the general election on Saturday, BBC reported. Babis, the country’s second-richest man, fought the election on an anti-establishment platform, and pledged to fight corruption, while he faces fraud charges himself.
The ANO movement received 29.6% of the vote, that is, 78 of the 200 seats in the lower house of Parliament, AP reported. The centre-right Civic Democrats and the Pirates Party received around 10% of votes each.
ANO still needs partners to form a coalition government. However, some parties have denied joining him, as he faces over €2-million fraud charges, Reuters reported. “We have invited everyone for talks,” Babis told Reuters. “We want to hear all arguments at a table.”
Babis said he did not want to rely on the support of the Communist Party or the anti-European Union Freedom and Direct Democracy party.
Babis owns a media empire which runs two major newspapers and a popular radio station in Czech Republic. He was a finance minister in the outgoing government until May.