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Two ministers in the outgoing Czech cabinet have failed to win election to the Chamber of Deputies. Neither the Social Democrat minister of labour and social affairs, Michaela Marksová, nor the Christian Democrat minister of culture, Daniel Herman, won mandates in the general elections.

Jan Mládek, who was industry and trade minister for the Social Democrats until February, also failed to get in.

Meanwhile, the new Chamber of Deputies will get its youngest ever member with Dominik Feri of TOP 09. Mr. Feri, who was elected onto the council in Teplice at 18, is aged 21. The oldest fresly elected MP is his party colleague Karel Schwarzenberg, 79.

The average age of MPs in the new lower house will be 47.5 years, two years younger than in the outgoing one. The number of women in the 200-seat Chamber of Deputies has risen by five to 44.

Following ANO’s major victory in the Czech general elections, the party’s deputy leader Jaroslav Faltýnek says they will do their best to reach agreement on forming a new coalition government as quickly as possible. Speaking in a TV debate hours after his party scored almost 30 percent in the elections, Mr. Faltýnek said, however, that coming to an arrangement would probably be more difficult given the high number of parties that made it into the lower house.

A record nine groupings crossed the five-percent threshold for election, including two, the Czech Pirate Party and Freedom and Direct Democracy, that have never been in the Chamber of Deputies before. Three parties scraped in on less than six percent.

Mr. Faltýnek said it was a good thing that President Miloš Zeman had set the latest date possible – 30 days from the election – to call the first session of the new lower house. This creates space for debate, the ANO deputy leader said.

The electoral leader of the Social Democrats, Lubomír Zaorálek, says his party appears headed for the opposition benches. The grouping took only 7.3 percent of the vote after coming first last time out on 20.4 percent.

Meanwhile, the Social Democrats’ outgoing prime minister, Bohuslav Sobotka, said he was disquieted by the rise of extremist parties, an evident reference to the anti-migrant and anti-Islam Freedom and Direct Democracy.

The centrist ANO party of billionaire businessman Andrej Babiš have scored a resounding success in the Czech general elections, taking 29.6 percent of the vote and coming first in all the country’s constituencies. The result is considerably higher than the 18.65 percent the grouping received in the last elections four years ago and leaves ANO on 78 seats.

Also enjoying major success have been the Czech Pirate Party, who were not in the previous lower house but came in on 10.8 percent. The other big winners were another newcomer to the Chamber of Deputies, the anti-migrant Freedom and Direct Democracy party led by Tomio Okamura, who got 10.6 percent.

The traditional main right-wing party the Civic Democrats enjoyed a resurrection after some fallow years, climbing from 7.7 percent in 2013 to 11.3 percent this time out. The Communists, who took 14.9 percent in 2013, saw a falloff in support, picking up 7.8 percent.

The major losers on a dramatic day for Czech politics were the leaders of the outgoing government the Social Democrats, who saw their support nosedive from 20.45 percent in 2013 to 7.3 percent.

The Christian Democrats saw a slight decline, taking 5.8 percent, compared to 6.8 last time out. TOP 09 and the Mayors group reached the five-percent threshold for entrance to the lower house by the skin of their teeth, with 5.3 and 5.2 percent respectively. Turnout was 60.8 percent, a very slight rise on the figure for 2013.