Czech Republic on the Eve of Parliamentary Elections 2021: Party Programs

• Main Author: Mikhail Vedernikov
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Institute of Europe Russian Academy of Sciences 2021-08-01
• Series: Научно-аналитический вестник Института Европы РАН
• Subjects: ano; a. babiš; parliamentary elections in the czech republic; «spolu» coalition; pirates and elders; freedom and direct democracy
• Online Access: http://vestnikieran.instituteofeurope.ru/images/Vedernikov42021.pdf

In the summer of 2021, the ANO movement, led by Prime Minister of the Czech Republic A. Babiš, regained the positions lost at the beginning of the year and topped the rating of the country's political forces. The article examines the main program documents of the key contenders for the composition of the Cabinet following the results of the autumn parliamentary elections. The author notes the use of non-traditional methods of attracting potential voters by ANO. In turn, his opponents, realizing the futility of using anti-corruption rhetoric, focused on creating an image of the prime minister as a politician, which casts doubt on the pro-European course of development of the Czech Republic. Such suspicions were not well founded. They were based, firstly, on the fact that he pursued a multi-vector foreign policy, and, secondly, on the fact that the internal one contained national-conservative elements inherent in the governments of Poland and Hungary.