Governing parties rule out post-election cooperation with ANO

Prime Minister Petr Fiala, head of the Civic Democratic Party and leader of the Spolu coalition (Civic Democrats, Christian Democrats and TOP09) and the head of the Mayors and Independents Vít Rakušan held an informal meeting at a Prague restaurant on Tuesday where they publicly reaffirmed that their parties will not cooperate with the leading opposition ANO party after the elections. The meeting was intended to serve as a signal that, despite their differences on some issues, the parties are ready to work side-by-side in a new post-election coalition.

Zdeněk Hřib, head of the Pirate Party, a former member of the ruling coalition,  was also invited but did not attend, having announced in advance that the Pirates objected to the meeting’s format.

Commentators note that the pledge to ostracize ANO will complicate the party’s chances of forming a ruling coalition after the elections, since it would have to rely on support from Tomio Okamura’s anti-EU and anti-NATO Freedom and Direct Democracy Party (SPD) and the Stačilo! grouping which involves the Communist Party.