The anti-establishment leader's ANO party has a 20-point lead - but not enough for a parliamentary majority.
ADVERTISEMENT
The ANO party of billionaire businessman Andrej Babis was seen winning a Czech parliamentary election with around 30 percent of the vote, results projections showed on Saturday.
The projection by the Median agency showed eight parties crossing the 5 percent threshold to win parliamentary seats.
The centre-right Civic Democrats were seen second with 11 percent, the projection showed.
Babis has been seen as the mostly likely prime minister, his anti-establishment, anti-corruption message touching a chord with voters. But he’s thought unlikely to win a majority and coalition talks could take weeks.
Over half of all voting stations have reported results.
It would be the first group to break a quarter of a century of dominance by two mainstream parties.
In a surprise surge the far-right Freedom and Democracy party is posing a serious challenge.
Although he’s pro-EU membership, Babis has taken a tough line against further EU ntegration, being obliged to accept refugees and adopting the euro.
He’s remained popular despite accusations of conflicts of interest.
The Czech president has said he’ll allow a month for coalition negotiations before calling a new parliament – and has no objection to talks involving the far-left or far-right.
with Reuters
Billionaire’s ANO party holding big lead in Czech election: partial results https://t.co/Xt4AJvxFUJ pic.twitter.com/Y3mNkMkgYT
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) October 21, 2017