Poll: Andrej Babiš most trusted party leader in parliament

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, founder and chairman of the centre-right populist ANO party, remains the most trusted leader of a political party now represented in parliament, according to a new poll by the CVVM agency.

According to the poll, the ANO leader enjoys the trust of 40 percent of the 1,100 people surveyed. In second place is Pirate party chairman Ivan Bartoš, at 33 percent, followed by Tomio Okamura of the far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) party at 31 percent. The head of the junior coalition party, Social Democrat Jan Hamaček, placed ninth in the survey, at 22 percent.

However, CVVM noted that the survey was conducted from November 2 to November 15 and “does not reflect political events that have occurred after this date.”

On November 12, the prime minister’s son, Andrej Babiš Jr, said in an interview he had be “kidnapped” and taken to Crimea to prevent him testifying in a corruption probe over his father’s alleged abuse of EU subsidies.

That allegation triggered a no-confidence vote on November 23, which the government of Mr Babiš survived with the support of the Communists.

A separate poll by the STEM agency, conducted more than a week after the first report on the alleged kidnapping, shows support for ANO has risen by 2.3 percentage points since the last poll, to a 35.7 percent, and would handily win parliamentary elections if held today.

Author: Brian Kenety