UPDATE 5-Populist billionaire Babis on track to win Czech election

Billionaire Andrej Babis's ANO party was cruising to victory in the Czech Republic's parliamentary election on Saturday, raising the prospect of a government that would boost Europe's populist, anti-immigration camp and reduce support for Ukraine. ANO promised faster growth, higher wages and pensions, and lower taxes and tax discounts for students and young families during the campaign.

Those pledges - that will cost billions of euros, end austerity and test the country's frugal mindset - resonated with many Czechs who have seen their real incomes plunge in recent years as the country tackled soaring inflation. WHO WILL BABIS TEAM UP WITH?

Czech media projections showed ANO would win about 35% of the vote, ahead of Prime Minister Petr Fiala's Spolu (Together) group on around 23%, but would likely need partners to rule. With 93% of voting districts counted, ANO was leading on 35.7% and Spolu in second on 22.5%, the Statistical Office said. Babis and Fiala are expected to address the media this evening.

President Petr Pavel, who will appoint the next prime minister, was expected to start talks with party leaders on Sunday. ANO fell short of a majority, the results showed, and so will need other parties - likely the Motorists who oppose the EU's Green policies and the far-right, anti-EU and anti-NATO SPD - to form a government, or at least support a minority cabinet.

Motorists leader Petr Macinka said he was open to talks with ANO, and SPD signalled it was too. "We went into the election with the aim of ending the government of Petr Fiala and support even for a minority cabinet of ANO is important for us and it would meet the target we had for this election," SPD Deputy Chairman Radim Fiala said on television.

Overall, the fringe pro-Russian parties fared worse than expected in the partial results, with SPD on 8% and the far-left Stacilo!, built around the Communist Party, below the 5% threshold to enter parliament. Babis, who led a centre-left cabinet in 2017-2021, once wanted to join the euro but has since become a eurosceptic and a supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump, handing out "Strong Czechia" baseball caps inspired by Trump's MAGA slogan.

An ally of Hungarian leader Viktor Orban, Babis has teamed up with a number of far-right parties in the Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament to challenge the mainstream direction of Europe's policies, including decarbonisation. He has rejected calls from SPD to hold a referendum on leaving the EU and NATO, but has said he would end the "Czech initiative" that has bought millions of artillery rounds from around the world for Ukraine with funding from Western donors.

ANO wants NATO and the EU to handle aid for Ukraine, and has abstained in some European Parliament votes supporting Kyiv and its bid for EU membership, which Babis has opposed in the past.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)