Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis' populist centrist movement ANO won the regional elections on Saturday (October 3), despite criticism of its handling of the coronavirus crisis.
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ANO won the vote in ten of the thirteen Czech regions, in a ballot seen as an indicator ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for next year.
“
It's a huge success.
I wasn't expecting it,
”Andrej Babis rejoiced in front of reporters, thanking voters for going to the polling stations despite an ongoing peak of coronavirus infections.
However, ANO may have difficulty gaining power in some areas, as rivals have formed alliances to control the majority of seats there.
In the last regional elections in 2016, ANO won in nine regions but obtained the post of regional governor in only five of them.
Andrej Babis' center-left cabinet has recently been criticized by some for its way of tackling the spread of the epidemic in the EU country of 10.7 million people.
After having weathered the first wave of Covid-19 relatively well in the spring, the Czech Republic has experienced a record peak in infections since September.
3,793 new cases of contamination were recorded on Friday after 3,493 on Thursday.
Since the start of the pandemic, the Czech Republic has recorded a total of nearly 80,000 people infected, including 709 dead.
The government recently tightened preventive measures, ordering compulsory masks indoors, restrictions on the number of people at rallies and the closure of schools in the most affected areas.
But critics have denounced the measures as having come too late, with communication deemed chaotic from the minority government which also includes the Social Democrats and relies on the tacit support of the Communists.
Andrej Babis faces formal charges of fraud on EU grants, and criticism from the European Commission and the opposition over his dual role as politician deciding EU grants and entrepreneur who benefits.
Despite this, for years support for ANO has remained stable and hovered around 30% in various polls.