Populist tycoon Babis considers his party's result in the Czech legislative elections to be “catastrophic”

The main Czech opposition parties obtained the highest number of votes this Saturday in the Senate elections, while the party of Prime Minister Andrej Babis did not win any of the seats it sought in one of its first major electoral tests since coming to power last year. The ultra president described the result as “catastrophic”, although it is unlikely to destabilize his Eurosceptic coalition government, made up of right-wing and extreme right-wing parties.

Since coming to power, the Government has ended the state's direct military support for Ukraine in its defensive war against Russia and has questioned the European Union's climate policies.

Babis' ANO party was confident of gaining ground in the upper house, made up of 81 seats, of which a third was at stake. The opposition parties have the majority. The Lower House remains the country's main legislative chamber and can override Senate vetoes, limiting the Upper House's ability to block government laws.

However, the Senate plays an important role in approving constitutional reforms, ratifying the candidates proposed by the president for the Constitutional Court and electing its own president, the second highest authority in the State after the head of State.

Despite the setback, ANO continues to lead national polls. The Government has relaxed fiscal policy to raise salaries and pensions and boost investment in transport, which has sparked criticism in a traditionally austere country of 10.9 million inhabitants.

Turnout in the second round of the Senate elections, held on Friday and Saturday following the first round the previous weekend, was low. According to the electoral system, the two candidates with the most votes go to a second round, unless one of them obtains more than 50% of the votes in the first.

The European party Mayors and Independents was the party with the best results: it won 10 of the 14 seats it aspired to, including two that it obtained directly in the first round. The Civic Democrats won seven seats.

The vote was held after the municipal elections the previous weekend, in which ANO won six of the country's 13 regional capitals, compared to the eight it had won four years earlier.