Czech election results: ANO wins 10 of 13 regions, Pirates in crisis, SPD and Stačilo! are stronger, ODS and SPOLU win Moravia and South Bohemia
The regional elections which have been held just one week after the destructive flooding in the Czech Republic have clearly been dominated by the Association of Dissatisfied Citizens (ANO) opposition movement. Just as they did four years ago, the movement won 10 of the country's 13 regions. In the Karlovy Vary and Moravian-Silesian Regions ANO can even govern without forming a coalition. In the Liberec, South Bohemian and South Moravian Regions the incumbent governors and parties won re-election. Another opposition movement, "Freedom and Direct Democracy" (SPD) has emerged stronger from the elections, as has the coalition called Stačilo! [Enough!], while the Pirates, part of the governing coalition nationally, have endured a fiasco and their leaders have offered to resign. ANO is also in the best position after the first round of the elections to one-third of the Senate. Five senators were convincingly elected in the first round. That is the first time that has happened in the history of that chamber of Parliament. The remaining 22 Senate seats will be decided a week from now in the second round. ANO gained two senators in the first round and has 19 finalists who will run in the second round, the highest number of any party.
Voter turnout was almost 33 % for the regional elections. That is down from 2020, when it was 38 %. It was significantly lower in the towns and villages which were ravaged by flooding several days ago. During the first round of elections to the Senate, 30.5 % of the electorate turned out. Only in 2002 and 2004 did fewer people turn out to decide who should sit in one-third of the upper house.
In the South Bohemian Region, the most votes went to Martin Kuba of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), who has already announced he can put together a cabinet without the support of any other party. In the South Moravian Region, the coalition SPOLU [TOGETHER] won, led by Jan Grolich (Christian Democrats – KDU-ČSL), who anticipates being able to quickly reach agreement between SPOLU and the Mayors for South Moravia movement in order to form a coalition government there. In the Liberec Region, Martin Půta’s Mayors for the Liberec Region have won a fourth election in a row and are prepared to negotiate on collaborating with the second-place ANO movement and the third-place Spolu pro Liberecký kraj [Together for the Liberec Region].
The other regions were dominated by ANO with a significant lead. However, the number of victories does not have to mean an equivalent number of governors, as after the last elections ANO governed just three regions even though it won in 10, just as it has this time. For the most part, post-election negotiations started in the regions soon after the results were tallied. The chart below shows the number of Regional Assembly members elected per party during the elections held from 20-21 September, 2024.
Elections to one-third of the Senate: Five senators elected in the first round, including Jiří Čunek
In parallel with the selection of Regional Assembly members, the contest for 27 seats in the Senate was also held this weekend. During the first round, five candidates secured more than half of the votes cast and were therefore elected.
Senator Pavel Fischer (running for TOP 09), a diplomat who once ran for president, has defended his seat in the Prague 12 precinct. The decision has also already been made in the Vsetín area, where incumbent Senator Jiří Čunek (Christian Democrats – KDU-ČSL) has won re-election. In the Karviná area, Petr Vícha (SOCDEM) won, Martin Bednář (ANO) won in Ostrava, and the senator for the Sokolov precinct will be Jana Mračková Vildumetzová (ANO), currently a member of the lower house, who should be replaced there by a jockey who has won the Pardubice horse races eight times, Josef Váňa.
In the other regions where Senate elections are being held this year, a second, decisive round of voting will be held this coming Friday and Saturday.
Babiš says the regional elections have confirmed ANO’s strength, Fiala warns against premature conclusions
ANO’s victory in the regional elections is considered by the boss of the movement, Andrej Babiš, to be the result of their intensive work in opposition in the Parliament. He said the most important elections will be one year from now. According to Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, who chairs the ODS, the results of these elections were neither a success nor a fatal failure. He does not anticipate the results to impact collaboration at the central government level and considers it crucial to succeed in the elections to the lower house next year. He acknowledged that ANO has strengthened its position and has more potential to form a coalition government next year than it has so far. However, he said everything will depend on further negotiations.
Czech Interior Minister Vít Rakušan, chair of the “Mayors and Independents” (STAN) movement, expressed appreciation for the fact that they won more seats in the regional assemblies this time than last. The Christian Democrats have been elected to roughly the same number of seats as four years ago.
Christian Democratic chair Marian Jurečka told journalists that his party wants to be part of regional coalition governments, and not just in South Moravia, where they won as members of the SPOLU [TOGETHER] coalition. He also said that he would wait to decide whether he wants to continue leading the party until after the second round of the Senate elections is over.
Pirates have suffered a debacle, their leadership has offered to resign. SPD and Stačilo! [Enough!] strengthened their regional showing
The elections have been a debacle for the Pirates. The republic-wide leaders offered to resign shortly after the results were published, a decision that will be made by the broader leadership of the party, according to Vice Prime Minister Ivan Bartoš, the party chair. He said the electoral outcome was poor.
After the 2020 regional elections, the Pirates were represented in all 13 regions, but now they are just represented in the Plzeň Region. Bartoš rejected the idea that the election results are connected to the Pirates’ involvement in the coalition government at the central level. The president of the lower house and chair of TOP 09, Markéta Pekarová Adamová, said that all the parties in the central coalition government with the exception of the Pirates achieved solid results this weekend.
The SPD movement, which is in opposition in Parliament, was strengthened by the regional elections, winning 41 seats, six more than it previously held. Instead of being represented in nine regions it is now represented in 12. According to the chair of the movement, Tomio Okamura, that is a success. The Stačilo! [Enough!] coalition has ruled out collaborating with any of the five parties now in the central governing coalition, and the head of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM), Kateřina Konečná, also announced that she will seek a recount in the Liberec Region. Stačilo! [Enough!] missed being seated there by just eight votes. Their candidates have been seated in 11 regions.
The voting was held on Friday and Saturday, just several days after destructive floods which complicated election preparations in several dozen of the most-affected municipalities in northern Moravia and Silesia. The state had to aid them with arranging for voting under these exceptional conditions after this natural disaster. According to the available information, the elections have transpired in such places without any fundamental problems.
