PRAGUE – The Czech president has asked Andrej Babis to try to form a new government after the populist billionaire's centrist movement won parliamentary elections.
Babis' ANO (YES) movement won 78 seats in the 200-seat lower house of Parliament earlier in October. Eight other parties and groups won seats, including the anti-migrant and anti-EU party Freedom and Direct Democracy, which finished fourth.
None of the parties has agreed to create a coalition government with ANO because they consider Babis unsuitable to lead the government due to charges of fraud linked to EU subsidies he has been facing.
Babis says he would be seeking to create a minority government of ANO with support from independent experts.
Any new government has to win to a parliamentary confidence vote to rule.
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