The Czech opposition wins big in the regional election and leads in the Senate vote

PRAGUE (AP) — The main opposition party dominated Czech regional elections and was ahead in the first round of voting for Parliament’s upper house, according to results released Saturday.

With almost all the votes counted, the ANO (YES) movement led by former populist Prime Minister Andrej Babis won 10 of the 13 regions contested in the election on Friday and Saturday, the Czech Statistics Office said.

The result reflected a stable support for ANO, which also won 10 regions in 2020 and nine in 2016, and a boost for Babis ahead of next year’s general election.

ANO also has the most candidates advancing to the runoffs for 27 seats in the 81-seat Senate. The top two finishers in each district will face each other in a head-to-head vote next weekend.

With ballots from 99% of stations counted, ANO had 19 candidates advancing to the runoffs.

The Czech Statistics Office said five candidates reached the 50% threshold to win seats outright, leaving 22 seats to be decided in runoffs next week between the top two finishers in each race.

The outright winners included two candidates from ANO, one from the Christian Democrats, a member of the governing five-party coalition, an independent representing the coalition and an opposition Social Democrat.

Government lawmakers currently have a clear majority in the Senate.

Parliament’s lower house is more powerful, but the Senate plays an important role in passing constitutional amendments and approving Constitutional Court judges.

The elections took place in the wake of massive floods that hit Central Europe in recent days, claiming at least 24 lives, five of them in the Czech Republic.