Opposition ANO party wins landslide victory in regional elections

The opposition ANO party has won a landslide victory in the 2024 regional elections, winning by a big margin in the vast majority of the 13 regions where voting took place. The only regions where the opposition party was beaten was in South Bohemia where the most votes went to the ruling Civic Democratic Party, the the South Moravian Region were the victory went to the coalition SPOLU of Civic Democrats, Christian Democrats and TOP 09 and the Liberec Region where ANO was narrowly beaten by Mayors for Liberec.

The big surprise in these elections was ANO’s dominant position in Central Bohemia which was expected to go to the ruling parties and the poor showing of the Pirate Party of the ruling coalition in all the regions.

Despite its convincing victory in most regions, the opposition ANO party of the former prime minister Andrej Babiš, may have problems putting together ruling coalitions in some regions, where it could be ostracized by the liberal democratic parties.

The results are a wake-up call for the government of Prime Minister Petr Fiala ahead of next year’s general elections.