New political power after election surge as Czech billionaire becomes independent politician | Democracy, elections and voting at Democracy Chronicles

Andrej Babis: from Czech tycoon to political powerbroker

AFP

Billionaire Andrej Babis emerged from nowhere to capture second place in Czech elections on Saturday with promises of prosperity and squeaky clean politics to voters fed up with austerity and corruption. The Slovak-born food tycoon, who used doughnuts to win Czech vote as coalition talks loom. Social Democrats edged out a new populist party to win Czech elections on Saturday as voters angered by years of right-wing graft and austerity veered left, full results showed. However, the fragmented outcome of the two-day ballot leaves few options.