Status: 09/21/2021 5:27 p.m.
Before the parliamentary elections, Czech Prime Minister Babis is facing a broad alliance of opposition parties that is successful in polls. The election campaign is carried out with great promises and harsh accusations.
The location for the start of the election campaign seems perfectly chosen: Vetruse Castle towers over the Elbe. A cable car leads directly from the shopping center in Usti nad Labem to the popular excursion restaurant. The factory chimneys on the river are far away, the prefabricated buildings that cut through the Bohemian low mountain range look tiny.
Andrej Babis stands on a podium with the ministers of his liberal-populist ANO party, all dressed in blue. The 67-year-old party founder does not have to fear critical interjections like in Prague, the date has only been known for a few hours. Instead of speaking to voters, he speaks on television cameras. “I ask for your attention. It is important because it is the last chance to protect our national interests, our culture, our identity,” he says. “Above all, it is the last chance to stop the two anti-Babis coalitions that want to give up our sovereignty.”
Pensions and salaries increased
The last election four years ago was won by Babis from Slovakia. The Czech Social Democrats have been declassed as junior partners, and his minority government is tolerated by the communists. In Usti nad Labem he announced that he would never introduce the euro, not accept a single illegal refugee and not accept a ban on internal combustion engines. And he promised the pensioners in the country the equivalent of 800 euros a month: in 2025 the pension would be 20,000 kroner a month – if his party were re-elected.
He has actually increased the pensions again and again, including the salaries for employees in schools, in the fire brigade or the police. The founder of the huge Agrofert group also advertises the fight against corruption: As a billionaire, he doesn’t need it, his followers say. The EU nevertheless confirms that he has a conflict of interest.
Babis’ son is sitting in the audience
His son remembers another affair, who appears out of nowhere in Usti: “Dad, father, this is Andrej Junior. Hello! How are you when you see me?”, He speaks to his father and lets him know that he will “defend himself” – only to then ironically wish his father “good luck with your campaign and while your ANO sect fooled the Czech people”. Babis’ son from his first marriage allegedly came to the restaurant to have some good soup. He accuses his father of having deported him to the Crimea and stamping him as mentally ill so that he could not testify against him: It is about fraud with EU funds for Babis’ wellness resort “Storchennest”.
Babi’s son Andrej confronts his father with allegations of kidnapping during an election campaign appearance.
Image: EPA
Fraud allegations: a campaign issue
The allegations are also a topic at the start of the election campaign of the Alliance of Pirates and the Mayor’s Party in Usti. On Lidice Square, the two party leaders of the progressive electoral coalition, Ivan Bartos and Vit Rakusan, stand in light-colored shirts on the stage in front of supporters and interested parties.
“European subsidies to the Czech Republic could be stopped. Because of the great conflict of interests of our prime minister. We want to change that together with you!”, Says Rakusan. “We want this country to have a future,” says Bartos. “We want to lead the Czech Republic back to the top of Europe!”
Ivan Bartos (left in the picture) from the Pirate Party and Vit Rakusan from the “Party of Mayors and Independents” during the election campaign in Usti nad Labem.
Image: AFP
Both are in their early 40s – a generation without a communist past. Her two parties entered parliament for the first time four years ago. The pirates as the third strongest force. In Prague they were right behind the ANO movement. The former industrial stronghold of Usti nad Labem had, however, won Babis’ party by a huge margin. Since then, ANO has neglected the district, says Bartos: “If money has flowed here, then only in large companies. The biggest problems of the republic are concentrated here in Usti: most personal bankruptcies, the highest unemployment. But we pirates and mayors have one Answer.”
Computer scientist Bartos wants to form the next government together with the second electoral alliance made up of three conservative parties. Today he convinced a young mother, an entrepreneur and an older teacher. But not 65-year-old Frantisek. He chooses those “who not only talked, but also acted,” he says – and for him this is called Babis: “He owns chemical factories here and is the largest employer. He has also increased pensions.”