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Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš says US President Donald Trump’s deal to import diesel from Russia is a major slap in the face for Europe. Mr. Babiš told reporters on Saturday evening that he regarded the agreement as shocking in view of the fact that Trump had long criticised Europe for buying the commodity from Russia.

The Czech PM said if Europe did not realise it needs to take action in response to this move the matter would end badly and that he was interested to see what positions other European leaders would take. An EU summit is set to take place next Thursday and Friday.

Political scientists told the Czech News Agency that the results of municipal elections and elections to one-third of seats in the Senate can be regarded as a success for two opposition groupings: the Mayors and Independents and, in large part due to the first-round victory of party leader Jan Grolich in the Senate, the Christian Democrats.

The Civic Democrats, the opposition party with most seats in the lower house, did not perform well. The three parties in the governing coalition – ANO, Freedom and Direct Democracy and the Motorists – also had reason for disappointment, though leader Andrej Babiš said the elections showed that ANO was still the strongest party in the country.

Nevertheless, the composition of the Senate will not be known until after next weekend’s run-offs, while practical success in municipal elections will only become clear once coalitions have been formed at local government level.

Five candidates in Czech Senate elections secured over 50 percent of the vote, meaning they made it into the upper house without having to take part in two-candidate run-offs next weekend in Saturday’s vote count. They are Jan Grolich, chairman of the Christian Democrats and governor of South Moravia, who was running in Vyškov; Jan Grulich of TOP 09, who secured a seat outright in Rychnov nad Kněžnou; Jan Sobotka, who won a seat for the Mayors and Independents in Trutnov; Tomáš Fiala of Our Czechia (previously Civic Democrats), who held on to his seat in Strakonice; and Zbyněk Linhart of the Mayors and Independents, who won by a wide margin in Děčín.

Among candidates who entered next weekend’s second round of elections to one-third of the 81 seats in the Senate, both the Mayors and Independents and ANO had 13 after 90 percent of votes were counted, while the Civic Democrats had nine.

Votes are still being counted in elections to the Czech municipalities and to one-third of seats in the Senate after polling stations closed at 2 p.m. Final results should be known later on Saturday or early on Sunday.

Just before 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, when around three-quarters of votes in local elections had been tallied, turnout stood at 47 percent. With many votes left to count, the biggest single grouping in terms of support was the Association of Independent Candidates.

In the Senate, over 76 percent of votes had been counted, while turnout was 42 percent.