Andrej Babis, prime minister of the Czech Republic
Billionaire prime minister nicknamed the “Czech Trump” lost a vote of confidence after failure to form a majority government
Possible coalition partners were wary of throwing their weight behind Andrej Babis after he was charged with EU subsidy fraud. He could therefore not able to form a majority government.
Mr Babis, 63, and his Ano (Yes) party came first in October’s general election on an anti-corruption, anti-euro and anti-migration ticket, far ahead of eight other parties. Revelations since then have proved the victory to be a ruse. However, he was named prime minister five weeks ago by President Zeman, who said that he was willing to give Mr Babis another go at forming a government.
Some parties have indicated that they might be prepared to play ball. However, this would have to be on the condition that Mr Babis were not prime minister, a condition he has refused to meet. Several parties may be forced to reconsider by polls showing that Ano could achieve even better than its present 29 per cent and 78 MPs out of 200 if another election were called.
Mr Babis was confirmed by Forbes to be the second-wealthiest Czech citizen. He was charged with breaking EU subsidy rules in 2007. He allegedly took a farm out of his huge Agrofert chemicals, food and media empire to make it eligible for a €2 million EU subsidy granted to small companies, before eventually returning it to the holding.
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