Czech Senate: Babiš's ANO party fails to win a single seat
The pro-European opposition dominates the Oct. 16-17 runoff, and the prime minister's movement loses all 13 races it contested.
Andrej Babiš, the prime minister of Czechia, suffered a defeat at the polls over the weekend: his movement, ANO, lost all 13 Senate runoffs it took part in. Babiš himself called it a "catastrophe," according to Around Prague. Czechia is a European Union member bordering Germany and Poland, and Babiš returned to power after the October 2025 elections; this was his first electoral test since, according to the outlets consulted.
The Senate has 81 seats and is renewed by thirds. This time 27 were at stake: five were settled in the first round, with no ANO candidate among them, and the other 22 were decided on Oct. 16 and 17 between the top two candidates in each district, according to Expats.cz.
The biggest winners were STAN (Mayors and Independents), which won 10 of its 14 candidacies, and the ODS (Civic Democrats), with seven seats after defending five, according to Radio Prague. The Christian Democrats kept three seats and TOP 09 two. The Pirate Party, by contrast, has no senators left.
Around Prague documents that nearly all ANO candidates got fewer votes than in the first round, while their rivals gained support. In Přerov, the governing party's candidate lost about 5 000 votes between rounds; in Uherské Hradiště, nearly 5 000. Babiš explained the result by saying ANO failed to win over voters of eliminated candidates or mobilize its own, according to that outlet.
What the Senate means
The upper house can block or send back laws passed by the lower house, where Babiš's government holds the majority. With not one new seat for ANO, the opposition keeps a firm counterweight, although turnout in the runoff was 21.12%, the highest since 2010 and still low. About 2.25 million people were eligible to vote, according to Expats.cz.
Expats.cz notes that the joint ODS and TOP 09 group, which had 30 members, could remain the largest in the Senate. The final breakdown has not been confirmed with the Czech Statistical Office. The new senators take office in mid-November, and until then the chamber works with the 54 who remain in their posts.
