Czech

Oct. 4 (UPI) — Billionaire Andrej Babis is poised to return to power as prime minister in the Czech Republic in a four-year comeback that mirrors U.S. President Donald Trump.

Known as “Czech Trump,” Babis earned a decisive victory Saturday in a parliamentary election after being voted out of office. Elections took place on Friday and Saturday.

Babis’ populist ANO party, which means yes in Czech, took 36% of the vote, which is the party’s best-ever result, according to Czech Statistics Office with about 95% of precincts counted.

Prime Minister Petr Fiala conceded defeat as head of the Spolu (Together) Party with 23% followed by the STAN liberal, centrist party. There was a turnout of 68.9% in a nation of 10 million residents.

“I’m surprised they received so many votes,” Babi said in Prague. “I didn’t believe it at first. I hoped we would reach 30%, as our poll suggested 26.”

No major Czech party will outright majority in the 200-seat lower house of Parliament. Only parties that win at least 5% of the votes can enter parliament.

Czech President Petr Pavel, who largely is in a ceremonial role, has said will begin forming a coalition on Sunday. Babis wants support from the far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy coalition and the populist Motorists party.

The Freedom and Direct Democracy captured 7.9% and Motorists 6.78%.

There could be a “a nightmare scenario for international, European partners” should Babis invite the right-wing parties to join the government, Daniel Hegedüs, director for Central Europe at the German Marshall Fund in Berlin, told The New York Times.

“There could be a huge reluctance to continue support to Ukraine, and to play the same constructive role in the European Union and NATO” as the Czech Republic has before, he said.

The 71-year-old former premier backs policies similar to Trump to spur economic growth.

He wants to cut taxes, increase pensions, cap energy prices, freeze politicians’ salaries and end funding for public television.

Babis capitalized on voter frustration with the current government’s response to a cost-of-living crisis. He also would promote the country’s place in Europe by focusing on transactional politics over values espoused by the EU.

Last year, he co-founded the Patriots for Europe, a right-wing main opposition party in the EU with Hungary’s Fidesz party, France’s Rassemblement National and Austria’s Freedom Party, both far-right groups.

Babis is riding a wave of populist politicians, including Prime Ministers Viktor Orban of Hungary and Robert Fico of Slovakia.

But unlike Trump and those leaders, Babis has never aligned himself with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Babiš is not an extremist but a dealmaker and populist who wants to have a catch-all party and he believes that he can offer something to everybody,” Petr Kolar, a former Czech ambassador to Russia, told the Financial Times before the vote.

“I don’t think Babiš will be against [more] sanctions” on Russia, adding “I believe that Babis is inspired by Orban, he admires him, but he doesn’t want to be perceived as a troublemaker in Brussels so much.”

Like those leaders, Babis has vowed to buck the EU on defense spending and immigration.

Babis became wealthy with an agribusiness with the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia in late 1989.

Czechoslovakia dissolved on Jan. 1, 1993, into Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Babis wants to resurrect the so-called Visegrad Four — the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia — as a regional force uniting 65 million citizens for a better say in the 27-member EU. Czech Republic joined the bloc in 2004.

Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland at one time were communist nations, like the Soviet Union, which included Russia.

“We will never drag the Czech Republic to the east, never leave the EU or NATO,” Babis said in his last televised pre-election appeal to voters.

Pavel, a former NATO general, faced off against Babis in a 2023 presidential election won by Pavel.

With most votes tallied, Babis’s ANO party is ahead, but it appears set to fall short of a majority in parliament.

Billionaire Andrej Babis’s populist ANO party has taken a commanding lead in the Czech Republic’s parliamentary election, but is on track to fall short of a majority.

With ballots from more than 97 percent of polling stations counted on Saturday, ANO had 35 percent of the vote, according to the Czech Statistical Office. Prime Minister Petr Fiala’s centre-right Spolu (Together) alliance trailed with 23 percent.

Shortly after the preliminary results were announced, Fiala conceded defeat and offered congratulations to Babis.

Turnout reached 68 percent, the highest since 1998, with more than 4,400 candidates and 26 parties competing for seats in the 200-member lower house.

President Petr Pavel, who holds the power to appoint the next prime minister, is expected to open coalition talks with party leaders on Sunday once results are finalised. Officials have warned that the rollout of mail-in voting could slow the official confirmation.

Despite the strong showing, the failure to secure a majority means Babis cannot rule alone. Early signs suggest ANO may seek backing from the Motorists, a party opposing European Union green policies, and the far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD), which has campaigned against both NATO and the EU.

SPD deputy leader Radim Fiala told Czech television the party was ready to help topple the government. “We went into the election with the aim of ending the government of Petr Fiala and support even for a minority cabinet of ANO is important for us and it would meet the target we had for this election,” he said.

The partial results showed fringe pro-Russian parties underperforming. SPD managed 8 percent, while the far-left Stacilo! movement, centred on the Communist Party, failed to clear the 5 percent threshold to enter parliament.

Babis, who led a centre-left government from 2017 to 2021, has shifted sharply to the right in recent years. Once supportive of adopting the euro, he now brands himself a eurosceptic and admirer of US President Donald Trump, even handing out “Strong Czechia” baseball caps styled after Trump’s MAGA slogan.

He has also forged close ties with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and aligned with far-right forces in the European Parliament.

While resisting SPD’s call for a referendum on leaving the EU and NATO, Babis has promised to end Prague’s arms procurement initiative for Ukraine, insisting military aid should be managed directly by NATO and the EU.

World number one Luke Humphries defended his Czech Open title as he beat Josh Rock 8-5 in the final.

Rock, who had beaten Michael van Gerwen en route to the final, got an early break of throw to go 2-0 up but England’s Humphries broke back and then reeled off a 12-dart leg to level at 3-3.

The pair then traded legs to reach 5-5 before Humphries won the next three legs on the spin against the Northern Irishman.

Humphries sealed victory with a clinical final leg at the PVA Expo in Prague to retain the title he won a year ago and claim the £30,000 top prize.

The 30-year-old’s three-dart average of 93.89 was marginally less than Rock’s 94.1 but his checkout percentage (34.8% versus 26.3%) was superior.

Humphries has now won the tournament three times in four years following his victories in 2022 and 2024 as he earned the eighth PDC European Tour title of his career.

“If it were up to me, I’d have all 14 European Tours held here. You don’t win three times in the same place by accident and it’s clearly special to me,” Humphries said.

“Since winning the Premier League, the past three months have been tough. I’ve struggled at times, and I felt like I dragged Josh down at the start of the game. But I never give in – I always try to find a way.”

World champion Luke Littler was earlier knocked out in the third round, suffering a surprise 6-4 defeat by Dutchman Gian van Veen.

AN ANGLER reeled in a massive 9ft catfish after a gruelling 50-minute battle.

Jakub Vagner, 43, hauled in the epic catch just south of Prague, in the Czech Republic – setting a new national record.

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The celebrity angler was drifting past a rocky overhang in the Vranov Reservoir, on August 4, when he spotted the giant fish gliding below in the early morning light.

He cast his custom-made rod towards it and waited.

“Ten minutes passed and nothing happened. Suddenly, it turned and went straight into my trap,” Jakub said.

What followed was “the hardest battle I have ever had with a catfish in the Czech Republic”, he continued.

The fish put up such a fight that Jakub had to call in a friend to help him hold onto the rod.

“After almost 50 minutes, it was lying half-tired next to my boat. I was shaking, completely done,” the angler said.

He released the record-breaking fish back into the water after posing with it for photographs.

Jakub explained: “At 2.68 metres (8.8ft) in length, it’s four centimetres (1.6in) longer than the one I caught last year.

“This is one of the biggest catfish I’ve ever seen in Europe.”

Pictures show the Fish Warrior TV host, aired on the National Geographic Channel, standing in the shallows with the enormous catfish.

The 8.8ft whopper was “not only long, but also brutally tall and broad… a beautiful, almost flawless fish with the potential to grow even bigger”, Jakub said.

He added that catching big fish is all about “morale, dedication and determination” – and stressed he never kills his catches, releasing them so they can keep growing.

It comes after another angler landed a monster 20-stone catfish in Italy following a 45-minute fight to reel it in.

Dramatic images show Benjamin Grunder, 37, wrestling with the catch of a lifetime on the banks of the River Po.

At first, he thought his hook had snagged a submerged tree, but the sheer weight revealed it was a huge fish.

The German angler finally hauled in the 8ft 8in Wels catfish – the largest freshwater species in Europe – estimating its weight at 20 stone.

That fish was also released back into the water safe and sound.

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Six-time MotoGP world champ continues his supreme 2025 season, becoming first Ducati rider to win five consecutive GPs.

Marc Marquez has won the Czech MotoGP for his eighth victory in 12 races this season and his fifth in a row, extending his commanding lead in the world championship.

The factory Ducati rider beat Marco Bezzecchi on an Aprilia by almost two seconds on Sunday while Pedro Acosta on a KTM came in third in his first podium finish of the season.

Marquez had a fifth straight perfect weekend, winning both the sprint on Saturday and Sunday’s race.

The 32-year-old Spaniard now leads the world championship with 381 points, 120 ahead of his younger brother, Alex, who crashed, and 168 ahead of Ducati teammate Francesco Bagnaia.

“It has been a super first part of the season and especially these last races,” Marc Marquez said.

“I feel better and better, and I’m riding super good,” he added.

Marquez outpaces his rivals

Bagnaia started from pole on a sunny Sunday at Brno but retained the lead only until the second lap when Bezzecchi eased past him, and Marc Marquez followed suit soon afterwards.

Acosta did the same to settle down in third after getting a boost from a third-place finish in Saturday’s sprint.

Marquez glided past Bezzecchi on lap eight as the runaway trio kept building up their lead and, as so often this season, kept widening the gap comfortably.

The three stayed put until the finish line although fourth-placed Bagnaia gave Acosta a hard time, pressing from behind.

“The first lap was unbelievable,” Bezzecchi said.

“I had so much fun in the first half of the race, but unfortunately, when Marc passed me, I immediately saw that he had something more.”

“I tried to attack, but he was strong. Anyway, I made a fantastic performance. I’m very, very happy,” the Italian added.

Reigning world champion Jorge Martin collected his first points after finishing seventh in the first race he has completed this year.

Martin sat out the first three races after two preseason crashes, and when he returned at Qatar in April, he crashed heavily again and missed the next seven events.

Brno returns faster than ever

Marc Marquez took 40 minutes 04.628 seconds to complete the 21 laps on the resurfaced 5.4km (3.4-mile) Brno circuit, which returned to the MotoGP calendar after a five-year break due to financial woes.

The enhanced on-track results of the Brno resurfacing were evident with lap times this year several seconds under the previous lap record.

Bezzecchi crossed the line 1.753 seconds adrift of Marquez, while Acosta trailed the six-time MotoGP champion by 3.366 seconds.

Almost 220,000 fans were in the stands for the weekend as Marquez recorded his fourth MotoGP win at Brno after victories in 2013, 2017 and 2019.

Alex Marquez retired after crashing on lap two to leave Brno without a point after a disappointing 17th spot in the sprint race.

He took out Joan Mir, who also walked away from the gravel safety area, just like Enea Bastianini a lap later.

Japan’s Takaaki Nakagami was ruled out of the race after suffering a knee injury in a crash in Saturday’s sprint.

The MotoGP circus will now take a break and resume with the Austrian GP on August 15-17.

“Now it’s the summer break but still 10 races to go. Time to relax, but in Austria I [will] keep the same mentality with the same intensity,” Marc Marquez said.

He is eyeing his seventh MotoGP world title – and first since 2019 – which would put him level with Valentino Rossi and one behind the legendary Giacomo Agostini.