ANYONE with illusions that the blurred Czech political picture would be clearer after the election on October 25th and 26th was in for a rude awakening. Despite finishing as runner-up ANO, a new populist political vehicle for the country’s second-richest man, emerged as the real victor. The ostensible winners, but de facto losers, were the Social Democrats, who have spent the days following the vote engaged in recriminations and bitter factional warfare.The Czechs vented their anger about a string of corruption scandals by supporting new parties. The right, in particular the historically dominant Civic Democrats (ODS), suffered most, as many of its voters switched to ANO, which purports to be pro-business.Seven parties passed the 5% threshold to get into parliament. The Social Democrats, which had expected a far stronger victory, took only 21% of the vote, followed by ANO with 19% and the Communists with 15%. The right-of-centre TOP 09 and the ODS got 12% and 8% respectively. Usvit (Dawn), a party some term proto-fascist, scored 7%. So did the Christian Democrats. The…
The Economist: Europe