The centrist Czech political parties that like to call themselves “democratic” and the business interests behind them have underestimated Andrej Babi\u0161 every step of the way. In panic, they overplayed their hand in the 2017 election campaign, thinking that an anti-Babi\u0161 platform would prevail.<\/p>\n
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The result was an overwhelming ANO victory in Oct. 2017, with the next party, ODS, trailing ANO’s 29.64% finish by an unprecedented 18.32 percentage points. Babi\u0161 won 162% more votes than the runner-up, ODS, and 307% more than the winner in the 2013 elections, \u010cSSD.<\/p>\n
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This happened because the “democratic” parties underestimated Babi\u0161. If these four parties had known in 2013 what they know now, they could have done then what they can only dream of now. They could have shut Babi\u0161 out of the government. They could have significantly restricted his platform for exercising influence and control over the Czech political and business environment by not allowing him an executive position.<\/p>\n
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These four “democratic” parties currently have 29.70% of the vote (34.88% with STAN) and 57 seats (63 with STAN). After the 2013 parliamentary elections, they had 46.94% of the vote and 106 seats in Parliament. These four parties had a solid majority in Parliament but underestimated Babi\u0161 by so much that instead of joining forces to shut him out, they let him in. They refused to cross the Left- Right divide, because \u010cSSD, ODS and TOP 09 couldn’t work together. The result of this inability to see the future was a coalition of \u010cSSD, ANO and KDU-\u010cSL that came to be dominated by ANO.<\/p>\n
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Babi\u0161 likes to say that the traditional political parties created him, and in this sense, it certainly is true. They needlessly turned the country over to him.<\/p>\n
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Mirek Topol\u00e1nek’s entry this week into the presidential race is a belated effort to bring Babi\u0161 back into check. The four “democratic” parties (plus STAN) now have only 34.88% of the vote and 63 seats, and they are further handicapped by Babi\u0161’s unwillingness to work with \u010cSSD. Because of this, the business interests associated with EPH, \u010cEZ and PPF that were once the backbone of \u010cSSD’s support are now quickly moving over or back to ODS.<\/p>\n
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Topol\u00e1nek’s candidacy for president serves a dual purpose for the business interests behind him. First, it signals to Babi\u0161 their strong willingness to negotiate, because they are abandoning the joint candidate of \u010cSSD a.s., Ji\u0159\u00ed Draho\u0161. They can always return later to Draho\u0161 if he makes it into the final round.<\/p>\n
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