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| - The centrist populist ANO movement of billionaire Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis won regional elections Saturday despite recent criticism of his cabinet over a chaotic handling of the coronavirus crisis. ANO won the regional vote, held on Friday and Saturday and seen as a lithmus paper ahead of general elections next year, in ten out of 13 Czech regions. "It's a huge success. I didn't expect this," Babis told reporters, thanking voters for coming to the polling stations despite a spike in coronavirus infections. But ANO may have a hard time taking power as its rivals have already teamed up to form governing coalitions in some regions where the movement had won. In the last regional election in 2016, ANO won in nine regions and took the regional governor's post in five of them. Babis's centre-left cabinet has recently come under fire over measures designed to stem the spread of the epidemic in the EU member country of 10.7 million people. After weathering much of the first Covid-19 wave in the spring with timely measures, the Czech Republic has seen a spike in infections over September and the first days of October. It posted record daily increases with 3,793 new cases on Friday after 3,493 on Thursday, registering almost 80,000 cases and 709 deaths altogether as of Saturday evening. The country has recently taken steps including the wearing of face masks indoors, restrictions on the number of people at events and the closure of schools in the worst-hit regions. But critics have condemned the steps as coming too late amid chaotic communication from the minority government, which also comprises the leftwing Social Democrats and leans on tacit support from the far-left Communists. Babis has been facing police charges over an EU subsidy fraud, and criticism from the European Commission and local opposition over his dual role as a politician deciding on EU subsidies and an entrepreneur receiving them. Despite this, ANO's voter support has been hovering around 30 percent in polls for years. frj/har
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