Election victory for Andrej Babis - the 'Czech Donald Trump'

Election victory for Andrej Babis - the 'Czech Donald Trump'
By Euronews
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The billionaire businessman with an anti-establishment message won a landslide but still needs coalition partners

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A billionaire businessman with an anti-establishment message has won this weekend’s parliamentary election in the Czech Republic.

Maverick tycoon Andrej Babis has drawn comparisons with Donald Trump and like the US President, he doesn’t mind ruffling feathers.

In victory, however, Babis downplayed his Eurosceptic reputation.

“We have to fight for our interests,” he said. “We’re a firm part of the European Union. We’re a firm part of NATO. I would be grateful if some people would stop being afraid that we are oriented to the East.”

But he added that the EU needs to reflect on why Great Britain is leaving the bloc.

Czech vote winner Babis wants active EU role, not favoring government with extremists https://t.co/qVjdpGZUYWpic.twitter.com/HiUypiFp2K

— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) 21 octobre 2017

Despite an emphatic victory for his centrist ANO movement, Babis will need partners to form a majority.

But fraud charges which he denies and other scandals linked to the 63-year-old have led some potential coalition allies to rule themselves out.

with Reuters

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