After election win, Czech opposition seeks to oust prime minister hit by Pandora Papers disclosures
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/czech-elections-babis-pandora-papers/2021/10/09/2bb985e2-2851-11ec-8739-5cb6aba30a30_story.html
PRAGUE — The two opposition alliances opposed to Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis won a parliamentary majority Saturday, raising the possibility that Babis may be forced from office after an election shaken by financial disclosures in the Pandora Papers. In a surprise surge, the center-right opposition alliance was narrowly ahead of the party led by Babis, a billionaire tycoon and ally of Hungary’s far-right leader Viktor Orban. A separate opposition bloc took parliament seats and would push the anti-Babis factions into the majority.
The Pandora Papers roared into the Czech elections in the final week, revealing that Babis allegedly used shell companies to purchase a $22 million French chateau in 2009. “He definitely lost some voters because of this scandal,” said Jiri Pehe, director of New York University Prague. “I think the opposition alliances will be very united in their efforts to force Babis out.” Addressing his supporters, center-right opposition leader Petr Fiala ruled out a coalition with Babis’s party and said “the result of this election is a victory of decency and moral values.” Pandora Papers spur probes in some countries and denials in others
The outcome is likely to be closely watched in Hungary, where opposition factions are trying to unify before elections next year that will test the strength of Orban and his hard-line policies that include anti-migrant laws. But the effort to remove Babis could become lengthy and fraught with potential obstacles. Czech President Milos Zeman — a Babis ally — had previously suggested that he may still appoint Babis as prime minister, even if he does not hold a parliamentary majority. The president’s rationale: Babis’s political base is composed of one party, while the opposition formed two alliances of several parties. Zeman could argue that Babis is still the head of the country’s largest party, even though he came in second. “In the next days, weeks, months, the key player will be president Zeman,” said Filip Kostelka, a political researcher at the University of Essex.
In a post-election speech, Babis conceded that the center-right opposition alliance had won, but he also called the concept of alliances “a scam.” “We’ll see what the president will say,” Babis said. Speaking on Czech television, political analyst Tomas Lebeda warned that if the president “doesn’t appoint Mr. Fiala as the prime minister, the country will plunge into a deep constitutional crisis.” Babis was the first major elected official named in the Pandora Papers to face voters.
snip
= new reply since forum marked as read
