Czech president appoints Andrej Babis as new prime minister

Czech billionaire businessman Andrej Babis was appointed prime minister on Wednesday …

ANO ("Yes") came in first, by a wide margin, but short of an outright majority. The other parties had all states they would not join with ANO because its leader, Andrej Babis, is under investigation. (He is a populist/center right politician, and a very wealthy businessman, and regarded as the Czech Donald Trump.) ANO's natural partner would seem to be the Civic Democrats. Those two parties share a lot of platform positions. But, ANO's not getting any love from the Civic Democrats. So, Babis has forged some ties with the populist-centrist Freedom Party (aligned with Marine Le Pen's group in the European Parliament) and also with the Communist Party (!). Support from the Communist Party may not be as crazy as it sounds, as that party relies on votes from people who have been left behind by the de-industrializtion of the country. Plus, Babis is throwing some patronage jobs to leaders of that party.

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