Populist Party ANO Wins 291 Seats in Czech Regional Elections

Sep 21, 2024, 03:50 PM

Czechia held elections for a third of the seats in its national parliament's upper house, the Senate, and regional parliament elections on September 20-21. Polling stations were open from 14:00 to 22:00 CEST on September 20 and from 8:00 to 14:00 CEST on September 21. The Senate elections covered 27 out of 81 seats and used a two-round system requiring a simple majority. The regional elections used proportional representation with a five percent threshold. The elections saw the populist opposition party ANO, led by billionaire Andrej Babis, achieve significant victories. In the regional parliament elections, with 99.37% of votes counted, ANO-PfE won 291 seats, an increase of 119 seats from the previous election. Other notable results included ODS-ECR with 106 seats, STAN-EPP with 93 seats, and Piráti-G/EFA with 3 seats, a significant decrease of 96 seats from the previous election.