Czech election winner wants to complete coalition talks by early November

The winner of the parliamentary elections in the Czech Republic, the ANO movement, hopes to complete negotiations with two small parties to form a new government by early November. This was announced by ANO leader Andrej Babiš, quoted by Reuters.

The populist ANO group, led by a billionaire and former prime minister, won parliamentary elections on October 3-4 and intends to replace the center-right cabinet of Prime Minister Petra Fiala.

To form a coalition, Babiš is negotiating with the Eurosceptic Avtomobilisty party and the far-right, anti-European and anti-Ukrainian SPD party. This will allow them to control 108 of the 200 seats in the Czech lower house of parliament together.

Babish said that an outline agreement could be agreed by the end of this week, and a full coalition agreement by the first meeting of the new lower house of parliament on November 3.

"I hope that by the time the new chamber convenes (the first session), we will be able to finalize the coalition agreement," said the ANO leader.

At the first session, a new speaker will be elected, after which the current cabinet will formally resign, and only then can a new prime minister be appointed, Reuters reports.

• On October 3, the Czech Republic launched parliamentary elections, which ended on October 4 with the victory of the ANO party, it won 35% of the vote.
• The current Czech Prime Minister admitted his defeat and congratulated Babiš.