On the afternoon of Friday 9 October 2026 Prime Minister Andrej Babiš cast his vote in the municipal elections in Průhonice near Prague and summarised the expectations of the ANO movement for journalists.

Image from the publication Pražský deník
Image from the publication Pražský deník, 9 Oct 2026

Prime Minister and chairman of the ANO movement Andrej Babiš cast his vote in the municipal elections in Průhonice near Prague on the afternoon of Friday 9 October 2026. He came to the ballot box with his wife. He then spoke to journalists [1][2][3].

Expectations of the ANO movement

According to Babiš, it would be a success for the movement to defend its result from 2022. He described the elections as important because in them people decide on the administration of their municipalities and cities. From the government's point of view, he said, the composition of the new leadership of Prague is the most significant. For him it also matters who becomes mayor of Průhonice, where he lives [1][2][3].

He recalled that four years earlier ANO was in opposition and he himself then travelled around the country in the election campaign. This year, he said, he had less time for campaigning because of government duties. He is looking forward to the end of the campaign, because, in his words, it was accompanied by personal attacks [1][2][3].

Prague and cooperation with the government

Babiš stated that, in his impression, the opposition is again choosing a strategy of isolating the ANO movement, and thereby the government. In his view this is not good for Prague. He stressed that the state finances projects in the capital in health care, education, transport and culture, and that cooperation between the government and the city hall could also help in housing construction. If the new city leadership refused cooperation, in his view it would be above all the residents who would pay for it [1][2][3].

Senate elections

The first round of the Senate elections was held at the same time as the municipal elections. Babiš stated that he cannot yet estimate how many ANO candidates will advance to the second round. According to him, the movement is prepared to support them then within its time constraints. He criticised the Senate for returning government bills mainly for political reasons. He did not give an estimate of overall turnout and recalled his earlier appeal for people to come to vote [1][2][3].

Results of 2022

In the municipal elections in 2022 ANO won 1,748 mandates in the leadership of municipalities. In the Prague assembly the Spolu coalition then won the most mandates, 19. ANO took 14 seats and remained in opposition [1][2][3].

The wider context of the elections is described in the article Municipal council elections in Czechia in 2026.

Related articles: 2026 municipal and Senate elections, Amnesty International, ANO, Confederation of Industry and Transport of the Czech Republic, Czech Television, Freedom and Direct Democracy, Government Council for Human Rights, Government of the Czech Republic, Municipal elections in Prague 2026, Národní koalice pro boj se suchem, Senate of the Czech Republic, Third government of Andrej Babiš, Tomio Okamura

The prime minister's statement on the election results of 10 October

On 10 October 2026, at a press conference at the movement's election headquarters in Prague, Prime Minister and ANO chairman Andrej Babiš commented on the results of the municipal elections and the first round of the Senate elections. According to him, the municipal elections confirmed that ANO is the strongest political force in the country at all levels except the Senate, and the movement came close to its 2022 result, when, being in opposition, it had more time for campaigning. According to Babiš the Senate elections were also successful for ANO, although he expects that other parties will unite against the movement's candidates before the second round.[4][5]

According to Babiš, the government coalition of ANO, SPD and Motoristé sobě will last until the regular elections in 2029. He stated that if the leaders of towns and municipalities want to cooperate, the government will cooperate with them, and he spoke mainly about Prague, where ANO was in fourth place in the interim count. In large cities, according to him, ANO prefers the formation of coalitions modelled on the government coalition. According to Babiš it depends on the new leadership of the capital whether it will want to cooperate with the government on large infrastructure projects.[4]

Babiš described the election result as very good. He criticised that national topics dominated the municipal elections and that the campaign, in his view, was untruthful, citing as an example the criticism of the proposed state budget deficit. He attributed the failure in Prague to a long-running campaign against his person. According to Echo24 he also said that the ANO movement is here to stay.[4][5]

Statements and meetings of Prime Minister Babiš on 11 to 14 October 2026

Assessment of ANO's result in the municipal elections

Prime Minister and ANO chairman Andrej Babiš stated in his Sunday video on 11 October 2026 that the movement's result in Prague is a "total flop" for ANO and that the movement must reflect on it. ANO finished fourth in the capital with about 14 percent of the vote. Babiš at the same time emphasised the movement's victory in Opava and in Plzeň.[6][7]

In an interview for iDNES.cz of 11 October 2026 Babiš said that ANO's result in the municipal elections is weaker than in 2022. He called the Prague result a "total defeat" and said that he does not understand it. He does not regard the replacement of the list leader during the campaign as the cause of the failure. In his view the movement was harmed by claims that it wants to take money from the accounts of large cities. According to him the elections were not a referendum on the government. In his words the government has been in office for nine months.[8]

Meeting of the Národní koalice pro boj se suchem

The Národní koalice pro boj se suchem was due to meet on 12 October 2026 from 16:00 at the Úřad vlády České republiky with the prime minister on the hydrological situation, the state's measures so far and further steps. It was the coalition's second meeting in 2026. The government revived the coalition in August 2026. Among the first tasks Babiš then announced that the ministries, together with the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, should compile a map of 500 to 1,000 places from which water disappears fastest. The regions in the coalition are represented by the governor of the Ústí nad Labem Region, Richard Brabec.[9][10]

Tax on refineries

On 12 October 2026 the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic, in an open letter to Babiš, rejected the introduction of sectoral taxes and called on the government to withdraw from the special tax on refineries or soften it. The confederation criticises that the tax is to apply to results in 2026 and argues that gross refining margin does not correspond to extraordinary profit, because it does not take into account costs of energy, emission allowances, maintenance, employees and investment. It also asks that the baseline margin not be derived from 2025 alone.[11][12]

According to the government's proposal the tax is to amount to 50 percent of the increase in gross margin compared with 2025 and to apply to companies with annual revenues of at least two billion koruna and revenues from refining activity of at least 50 million koruna. The Ministry of Finance estimates the yield for 2026 at about 5.5 billion koruna. Orlen Unipetrol regards the tax as retroactive; the Ministry of Finance rejected this argument. After the government meeting on 12 October 2026 Babiš described the passing of the law as one of the coalition's priorities. The Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic was to begin debating the law on Tuesday 13 October 2026.[11][12]

Confidence in Education Minister Plaga

Before departing for the European summit on 14 October 2026, Babiš told journalists that Education Minister Robert Plaga has his confidence and that he is not preparing changes in the government. He added that he has nothing against Environment Minister Igor Červený either. Speculation about a possible swap of the education and environment portfolios had earlier been published by Deník N. The chairman of the Motoristé sobě parliamentary group, Boris Šťastný, stated that he knows of no negotiations and that changes in the cabinet fall within the powers of the prime minister and the coalition council.[13][14]

On 14 October 2026 coalition representatives and experts in the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic agreed on the form of the amendment on teaching assistants. Motoristé sobě pushed through several changes to it, among them catchment-area allocation of counselling centres, the entry into force of which is to be postponed. The government is to discuss the amendment on Monday 19 October 2026. Plaga wants it to take effect from September 2027.[13][14]

Additional statements by the prime minister and related meetings on 10 to 12 October 2026

ANO's Prague result and Senate candidates

According to Echo24, ANO won 14.36 percent of the vote in the Prague municipal elections, about five percentage points less than four years earlier, and will almost certainly not be part of the coalition at Prague City Hall. In the 65-member assembly the movement has 11 mandates; STAN won 17, the Spolu coalition 17, Praha sobě 13 and the Czech Pirate Party 7. Turnout in Prague was 46.04 percent.[6] At the head of the Prague list Jan Hušbauer replaced Ondřej Prokop, who according to Echo24 withdrew from it because of a case concerning unexplained financial circumstances.[6]

In his Sunday video on 11 October 2026 Babiš stated that where municipal politicians work and are determined, the movement wins and gains more votes than before. He mentioned Opava, where ANO under Mayor Tomáš Navrátil won over 37 percent, and Plzeň, where the movement won for the first time in its history with almost 32 percent; the mayor and list leader in Plzeň is Roman Zarzycký.[6][7] On the evening of Saturday 10 October 2026, according to Ekonomický deník, he said that he explains the Prague result by hatred towards his person built up over a long time, and on the negotiations about a Prague coalition he said that Hušbauer is ready to cooperate and the decision is up to the others.[7]

In the Senate elections ANO had 24 candidates, of whom 13 advanced to the second round, seven of them women.[6] According to the FORUM 24 server, Babiš stated that because of trips abroad he would not be able to help the candidates significantly in the campaign.[15]

Interview for iDNES.cz of 11 October 2026

Babiš said that ANO won the municipal elections among the parties by share of the vote, but that the result is worse than in 2022, when the situation, in his view, was different: the movement was in opposition and ran an intensive campaign. He explained the lower support by saying that voters had repeatedly heard from the opposition about record state indebtedness and that, in his view, an untruthful campaign about the deficit was run against the government. According to him S&P improved the country's outlook for the first time in fifteen years. In his view people take the government's work for granted; the government inherited a hole in the budget of 95 billion koruna and is bound by a commitment to the European Commission and by defence spending of two percent of GDP.[8]

The loss of ANO mandates, according to him, was not as pronounced as for some other parties, for example ODS or KDU-ČSL. He attributed the effort to turn the elections into a referendum on the government to the "post-November cartel" and part of the media. He called Hušbauer a good and promising candidate.[8]

According to the FORUM 24 server, which summarises the interview, Babiš sees the cause of weaker results in some regional capitals, for example in Hradec Králové, Jihlava and Ústí nad Labem, within the movement: in his view some members relied on the ANO brand and stopped working among the people. For the future, according to the same server, he wants a new face for the movement, new young people and lasting commitment; personnel changes will not be immediate.[15]

Meeting of the Národní koalice pro boj se suchem

According to the Czech News Agency, Babiš convened the coalition's meeting after the report that the Vodní nádrž Husinec had become the first Czech reservoir to run almost dry. The South Bohemian Region declared a state of drought and on the Vltava and the Elbe in central Bohemia a state of water shortage was in force. Petr Kubala, director general of Povodí Vltavy, stated that the reservoirs supplying drinking water are sufficiently full and that no restriction of supplies is threatened. A press conference was planned after the meeting at the Úřad vlády České republiky.[9]

The government revived the coalition in August after a wave of hot and dry weather that in places reduced river flows to historic minima; the opposition then criticised the government for insufficient action. The former environment minister and governor of the Ústí nad Labem Region Richard Brabec (ANO), who stood behind the coalition's creation in 2018 and now represents the regions in it, stated at the time that the coalition is to evaluate programmes against drought and decide which are successful and worth financing.[9]

Special tax on refineries

According to the government's proposal the tax is to apply to the economic results of refineries for 2026 and 2027, so companies would pay it in 2027 and 2028. The government proposed it in connection with the rise in fuel prices, and the yield is to offset the costs of the measures by which it curbed the price increase. According to the Ministry of Finance it was inspired by a similar tax in Poland.[11][12]

The Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic welcomed the reduction of the excise duty on diesel, but in an open letter wrote that it fundamentally rejects any sectoral taxes, because in its view they distort the market environment, reduce the predictability of investment and weaken the competitiveness of industry. If the government insists on the tax, it should, according to the confederation, set it according to the economic situation of domestic refineries and determine the margin base from a longer period than 2025 alone.[11][12] Orlen Unipetrol, which owns the refineries in Litvínov and Kralupy nad Vltavou, described the tax as retroactive and therefore, according to the company, contrary to the constitutional order; the Ministry of Finance rejected this argument.[11][12] After the government meeting Babiš said that introducing the tax is the right step, because in his view the refineries have a multiple-times higher margin and it is a worldwide problem.[11][12]

Babiš on the Prague result and on the discussions on the refinery tax and on drought on 11 and 12 October 2026

ANO's Prague result

In his Sunday video on 11 October 2026 Prime Minister Andrej Babiš called ANO's Prague result a "total flop" and said that the movement must reflect on the result, because it had expected better in Prague.[6][7] On the same day, in an interview for iDNES.cz, he called the result in Prague a "total defeat", said that he is very disappointed by it and does not understand it. The iDNES.cz question noted that the movement had wanted to win over 20 percent in Prague. According to Babiš the change of leader during the campaign did not affect the result; in his view it was rather the claim that the movement wants to take money from large cities including Prague that harmed it, although in his words they have surplus budgets and the movement does not want to take money from them.[8]

Petr Hlaváček, leader of the winning STAN, stated on Saturday evening that he plans to negotiate a city hall coalition with Spolu, Praha sobě and the Pirates. He wanted to meet first with the Spolu leader Tomáš Portlík (ODS), according to Echo24 on Sunday or Monday morning. Portlík stated on Saturday that STAN is the closest partner for Spolu and that he can rule out cooperation with ANO.[6]

Národní koalice pro boj se suchem

The Národní koalice pro boj se suchem was to meet on 12 October 2026 from 16:00 at the Úřad vlády České republiky; it was its second meeting in 2026. Experts together with the prime minister were to evaluate the hydrological situation, the state's measures so far and further steps. A press conference was planned after the meeting. After the August meeting Babiš announced that the ministries, together with the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, are to compile a map of roughly 500 to 1,000 places from which water disappears fastest.[9]

Parameters of the refinery tax

According to the Czech News Agency, the tax is to amount to 50 percent of the increase in gross margin compared with 2025 and to apply to companies with total revenues of at least two billion koruna a year and revenues from refining activity of at least 50 million koruna a year. The Ministry of Finance estimates the yield on refinery revenues from 2026 at about 5.5 billion koruna. The Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic was to begin debating the law introducing the tax on Tuesday 13 October 2026; after the government meeting Babiš stated that its passing is among the coalition's priorities.[11][12]

In an open letter of 12 October the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic criticised in particular that the tax is to apply to this year's margins. According to the confederation the construction of the tax rests on the assumption that gross refining margin is an indicator of extraordinary profit, and thus ignores costs of energy, emission allowances, maintenance, employees and investment. It asks that the tax liability not apply to the results of 2026.[11][12]

Chronology

  • — Prime Minister Andrej Babiš called the result of the ANO movement in the second round of the Senate elections, in which it won no seat, catastrophic and announced that the movement's leadership would assess the work of its regional organisations. ČTK / České noviny Lidovky.cz
  • — Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, before leaving for a European summit, said that Education Minister Robert Plaga has his confidence and that he is not preparing changes in the government. Echo24 Seznam Zprávy
  • — On 12 October 2026 at 16:00 the Národní koalice pro boj se suchem was due to meet at the Úřad vlády České republiky with Prime Minister Andrej Babiš to discuss the hydrological situation and the state's measures so far; it is the second meeting this year. ČTK / České noviny Ekolist.cz
  • — In an open letter to Prime Minister Andrej Babiš on 12 October 2026, the Confederation of Industry and Transport of the Czech Republic criticised the special refinery tax proposed by the government and urged the government to drop the plan or soften the tax, while Babiš called passage of the law one of the government's priorities. ČTK / České noviny iDNES.cz
  • — In his Sunday video, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš called the result of the ANO movement in the municipal elections in Prague a "total flop" and said the movement must reflect on it. Echo24 Ekonomický deník
  • — In an interview with iDNES.cz on 11 October 2026, Prime Minister and ANO leader Andrej Babiš said that ANO's result in the municipal elections was worse than in 2022, and called the result in Prague, where ANO finished fourth, a "total defeat" ("totální prohra"). iDNES.cz FORUM 24
  • — After the municipal elections and the first round of the Senate elections, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) said that the ANO movement is the strongest political force in the country at all levels except the Senate and that the governing coalition with the SPD and the Motorists will last until the regular elections in 2029. ČTK / České noviny Echo24
  • — Prime Minister Andrej Babiš cast his vote in the municipal elections in Průhonice and said that defending the 2022 result would be a success for the ANO movement. ČTK / České noviny Pražský deník

Sources

  1. ČTK / České noviny — 9 October 2026
  2. Pražský deník — 9 October 2026
  3. Ekonomický deník — 9 October 2026
  4. ČTK / České noviny — 10 October 2026
  5. Echo24 — 10 October 2026
  6. Echo24 — 11 October 2026
  7. Ekonomický deník — 11 October 2026
  8. iDNES.cz — 11 October 2026
  9. ČTK / České noviny — 12 October 2026
  10. Ekolist.cz — 12 October 2026
  11. ČTK / České noviny — 12 October 2026
  12. iDNES.cz — 12 October 2026
  13. Echo24 — 14 October 2026
  14. Seznam Zprávy — 14 October 2026
  15. FORUM 24