Robert Muller and Jason Hovet

PRAGUE, Reuters – The Czechs have completed voting for Saturday’s tight election. Prime Minister Andrej Babis was criticized for mismanaging the pandemic and stoking fast-rising interest debts with handouts while he tended to his business interests.

The billionaire denied all allegations and ANO, his populist party, had a small lead in polls going into central European countries’ vote.

In his quest for a second term, the president says stability was needed in order to see the country prospering again.

Voting closed at 2:20 GMT (1200 GMT) on Friday. Results will begin to appear later that day.

Babis pledged to keep raising the public sector’s wages and pensions in an effort to increase his popularity. He also increased his anti-migrant rhetoric, vowing to stop the European Union from ceding power to him.

However, he was challenged by the center-right Together coalition as well as the progressive Pirates/Mayors bloc. They refused to cooperate with Babis because of what they consider unacceptable conflicts in interest related to his business empire that he built before entering politics.

Although ANO did not win a majority, it looked like they would be winning more votes than any other party. This gave the premier the chance to form the next government.

With two of the parties backing the current minority government in danger of losing their seats at lower house, ANO may have trouble finding partners. This could make it difficult for ANO to form an alliance with Freedom and Direct Democracy Party, which is far right.

Babis’s high-spending habits, despite an overall recovery from the coronavirus epidemic, are a deviation from Czech fiscal prudence. Although it has a low baseline, the debt is expected to grow at a rapid pace in the bloc.

Some voters stated that they were against populism.

Jan Mrazek, 39, said that he would vote for Spolu (“Together”) because he wants a change. He did this before voting in a Northern Prague area.

“I do not like the way that the government has run, the disorganisation they created during the pandemic, and the debt they are creating because they’re just populists throwing around money.”

BATTLING BRUSSELS

Babis has been blamed for the chaotic policies that were implemented during the height of the pandemic. This virus is responsible for more than 30 000 deaths per year in Europe.

Babis was elected as a member of the junior cabinet in 2013. He also won an election in 2017.

Forbes has ranked the fifth-richest Czech man at 67 years old as Agrofert Conglomerate, which includes chemical, food and media companies. In 2017, he put trust funds into his Agrofert company. The Czech government denied that he had committed any wrongdoing. A European Commission audit discovered a conflict of interests and has stopped Agrofert’s development grants.

Last weekend, new allegations were made that Babis bought property in France through opaque offshore structures before he entered politics. The allegations in the Pandora (OTC) Papers, which document hidden offshore financing, were denied by Babis. They are part of a campaign against him.

Babis has charged the Pirate/Mayors coalition with selling out his country, by supporting greater European integration and the eventual adoption the euro.

Together’s main party, Civic Democrats, has also been criticised for failing policies during their decade-long leadership of the country.