Czechia Forces A Political Collision Into Overtime

Election results in Czechia record a partial victory of liberal democracy when measured by Moscow or Budapest standards, but not an exciting victory when measured by Brussels’ or Berlin’s.

Part one of a two-part series on the Czech elections, the second part comes out Tuesday.

There is a sense of relief for the EU project but there are many reasons for persisting worries following the general election in Czechia. Another four years of majority for parties with illiberal leanings was averted, but the conditions for their rise remain in place, and the country’s institutions will have to cope with the increased influence of oligarchs. The election campaign, criticised for being exceptionally dull from an environmental perspective, was also marked by extensive disinformation activity and should serve as a warning sign of serious problems ahead.

Realignment of political forces in the Czech parliament means that Czech populists represented by ANO and, in a more extreme version, by the far-right SPD are in the minority when together they combine for 92 (72+20) seats. It also means that leftwing parties, Social Democrats and Communists are gone altogether, and the most vocal pro-EU voice in the mix, the Pirates, are marginalised to insignificance with merely four representatives.