Billionaire Babis’ Party Wins Most Seats in Czech Senate Vote

By Andrea Dudik

September 28, 2024 at 11:48AM EDT

Andrej Babis, Czech presidential candidate, speaks to the media after casting his vote at a polling station during the first round of the Czech presidential election in Pruhonice, Czech Republic, on Friday, Jan. 13, 2023. The vote is a chance for former Prime Minister Babis, a chemicals, agriculture and media magnate who leads the strongest opposition party, to return to a top post following his defeat in the 2021 parliamentary elections. Photograph: Milan Jaros/Bloomberg (Milan Jaros/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- The party led by billionaire former Prime Minister Andrej Babis won the most seats in an election for one-third of the Czech Republic’s Senate in voting that ended on Saturday.

Babis’ ANO party won eight out of the 27 seats being contested in parliament’s upper house, after clinching six of them in run-off votes. It was the first time his party has held the most seats in the 81-member Senate, but still isn’t enough for control; the ruling coalition of Prime Minister Petr Fiala still holds a majority.

The victory comes a week after Babis’ populist party dominated regional elections, winning control in 10 out of 13 contests.

Both results are seen as a boost for him ahead of general elections expected in 2025. Polls show ANO in the lead, and Babis has already said he’ll seek to again become the prime minister, having held the post from 2017 to 2021.