PRAGUE (AP) 鈥� Prime Minister Andrej Babis' centrist party on Saturday narrowly lost the Czech Republic's parliamentary election, a surprise development that could mean the end of the populist billionaire's reign in power.
The two-day election to fill 200 seats in the lower house of the Czech Republic鈥檚 parliament took place shortly after the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists reported details of Babis鈥� overseas financial dealings in a project dubbed the 鈥淧andora Papers.鈥� Babis, 67, has denied wrongdoing.
With almost all the the votes counted, the Czech Statistics Office said Together, a liberal-conservative three-party coalition, captured 27.8% of the vote, beating Babis' ANO (Yes) party, which won 27.1%.
In another blow to the populists, another center-left liberal coalition of the Pirate Party and STAN, a group of mayors, received 15.6% of the vote to finish third, the statistics office reported.
鈥淭he two democratic coalitions have gained a majority and have a chance to form a majority government,鈥� said Petr Fiala, Together's leader and its candidate for prime minister.
Five opposition parties with policies closer to the European Union鈥檚 mainstream compared with the populist Babis put aside their differences in this election to create the two coalitions, seeking to oust the euroskeptic prime minister from power.
The result means 鈥渁n absolute change of the politics in the Czech Republic,鈥� analyst Michal Klima told Czech public television. 鈥淚t stabilizes the country鈥檚 position in the West camp.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 a huge defeat for (Babis),鈥� he added.
The major anti-migrant and anti-Muslim force in the Czech Republic, the Freedom and Direct Democracy party, finished fourth with 9.6% support.
Both the Social Democrats and the Communists, the country鈥檚 traditional parliamentary parties, failed to win seats in parliament for the first time since the split of Czechoslovakia in 1993.
Babis has had a turbulent term featuring numerous scandals, but all public polls before the vote had favored his ANO party to win the election.
鈥淲e didn't expect to lose,鈥� Babis said. 鈥淲e accept that.鈥�
He still declared the election results 鈥渆xcellent.鈥�
Prior to the vote, Babis led a minority coalition government of ANO and the Social Democrats in the Eastern European country of 10.7 million people, which is a member of both the European Union and NATO. He has also governed with the support of the maverick Communists.
The leader of the strongest party usually gets a chance to form a new government. President Milos Zeman didn't immediately comment but previously indicated that he will first appoint the leader of the winning party, not the winning coalition, to try to form a new government, which would be Babis. The two leaders will meet on Sunday.
鈥淲e're the strongest party,鈥� Babis said. 鈥淚f the president asks me to create a government, I'll open the negotiations about it.鈥�
Any new government has to win a parliamentary confidence vote to rule, however, and Babis and his potential partner, the Freedom party, don't have enough support for that.
Karel Janicek, The Associated Press
