Czech Prime Minister Babis's ANO party shut out in Senate runoffs as opposition keeps control

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis's ANO party failed to win any of the Senate seats it contested in elections that ended Saturday, Oct. 17, Reuters and the Associated Press reported. Pro-Western opposition parties kept control of the 81-seat upper house.

Babis called the result "catastrophic," according to Reuters. It was one of his party's first big electoral tests since it took power last year.

The results

One-third of the Senate, 27 seats, was up for election. Five seats were decided outright in the first round a week earlier, and 22 more in Friday and Saturday's runoffs.

ANO had 13 candidates in the runoffs, and none won, according to Slovakia's TASR news agency and Radio Prague International. TASR said it was the first time ANO had failed to win a single Senate seat. Because ANO had been defending only one seat, in Karvina, its Senate caucus will not change much, TASR reported.

The Mayors and Independents party (STAN) won 10 of the 14 seats it contested, including two in the first round, Reuters reported. The Civic Democrats (ODS) won seven seats. The Pirate Party lost its only Senate seat when its incumbent in Kladno fell short by 723 votes, TASR reported.

Turnout in the runoffs was low, Reuters said. TASR put second-round turnout at 21.12% with more than 99% of precincts counted, which it said was the highest since 2010.

What it means

The vote is unlikely to destabilize Babis's coalition government, which includes right-wing and far-right parties, Reuters reported. The lower house is the main legislative chamber and can override Senate vetoes.

The Senate still matters. It must approve constitutional changes, confirms the president's nominees to the Constitutional Court, and elects its own speaker, the country's second-highest official after the president.

Since taking office, Babis's government has ended direct state military support for Ukraine and challenged European Union climate policies, according to Reuters. ANO still leads national opinion polls.

Babis had predicted a tough runoff a week earlier. "The runoff will be the usual story, everyone will unite against us," he said, as quoted by the Prague news site Around Prague.