Czech Centrist ANO Movement Wins Parliamentary Election

PRAGUE (Sputnik) — The Czech centrist movement ANO won the country’s parliamentary election with 29.64 percent of the votes, the country’s Statistical Office announced.

According to the final results of the vote, the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) came second with 11.32 percent of the votes, followed by the Czech Pirate Party (10.79 percent) and Freedom and Direct Democracy movement (SPD, 10.64 percent).

The other five parties that entered the country’s parliament are the Communists (7.76 percent), the Social Democratic party (7.27 percent), the Christian Democratic Party (5.8 percent), as well as the TOP 09 movement and the Mayors and Independents party with 5.31 and 5.18 percent of the votes, respectively.

This is the first time in the history of the Czech Republic that ANO, a centrist, populist, Eurosceptic, business-friendly party with Andrej Babis, a politician that's been dubbed the "Czech Trump" at the helm, came first in all 13 districts of the country.

Babis expressed his gratitude to the supporters and said the movement was open for cooperation with all political forces in the country. Experts are characterizing the politician as a Eurosceptic, who criticizes Brussels on a regular basis.

The Czech Republic held the two-day parliamentary election on October 20-21. According to the country’s Statistical Office, the turnout made almost 61 percent, with over 8.37 million voters casting their ballots.