Czechs facing political chaos after general election

The results of the Czech Republic's general election have been officially promulgated but forming a government is looming as a major problem. There are very few viable options in the new fractured, seven-party parliament, and any coalition will have to cross the left-right divide. According to the Interior Ministry, the Czech Social Democrats (CSSD) were the biggest winners in the Oct. 25-26 poll, with 20.45 percent of the vote, followed by ANO 2011 (18.65 percent), the Communists (KSCM, 14.91 percent), TOP 09 (11.99 percent), the Civic Democrats (ODS, 7.72 percent), the Dawn of Direct Democracy (6.88 percent) and the Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL, 6.78 percent). The largest party in the lower house, the CSSD, was less than effusive in its celebrations. Instead of increasing its majority as expected, it lost seats, and the internal fight for power has just ended. The CSSD Central Executive Committee (UVV) on Sunday decided to support party leader Bohuslav Sobotka and confirmed his mandate as the head of the team to negotiate a new government. The UVV canceled a two-week-old CSSD presidium resolution, which called on Sobotka to resign and expelled him from the negotiating team. Sobotka also was confirmed as the party's candidate for prime minister. The most likely formation, a coalition of CSSD, ANO, KDU-CSL, and the center-right Christian Democrats, would be plausible but difficult, considering the vast differences in the parties' programs. The newly formed centrist anti-graft protest party ANO, a populist movement built by Andrej Babis and other business people, takes its ideas from both the right and left, but as a business movement tends more to the right. The ANO rode this wave to new heights, to become the most successful new party in the Czech history, and now has the chance to change the country's future. Going into government will be perilous and contentious for ANO, and as quickly as the party rose, it could plummet back down. Opposition would be much easier, but there must also be a government to oppose and, without ANO, it will be hard to form. The Czech Republic's future lies politically in inexperienced hands, and whether that is a good thing or not is anybody's guess. It's not quite the grand coalition some had wished for, but if the parties are able to compromise, it could be just what the doctor ordered. Or it could be a disaster marked by petty infighting and bitterness. CSSD has offered ANO six ministries and the KDU-CSL three ministries, taking five ministries and the prime ministership for itself. Babis, as the potential finance minister, would have a chance to reform the state far sooner than he ever dreamed. He is wavering less as time goes on, and there is a strong chance the coalition could be realized. If negotiations fail, there are few other options. The parties are too polarized, racked with mutual hatred, and, above all, small, to make viable coalitions. Such a scenario would most probably result in the continuation of the unpopular caretaker government for months, and, eventually, new elections. Czech President Milos Zeman, despite suffering from a knee injury and confined to a wheelchair, is still playing hardball. He has indicated he is unwilling to name a new prime minister until he is out of the chair, which will not be until the beginning of December, at the earliest. There are, of course, ulterior motives. The caretaker government, which he named after the collapse of the previous one, will continue until such time as a new government can be formed, allowing the president and his friends to continue making their mark on Czech politics and society. So far, the only clear result of the election is the expression of the electorates' dissatisfaction with the status quo.