Is Czexit closer than we think? Ahead of the Czech general elections in October, the rise of an anti-EU party as a potential kingmaker is making a referendum on EU membership a distinct possibility.
‘No to EU dictates,’ ‘Freedom to think, speak and breathe,‘ ‘Lockdown is not a solution,’ read election posters plastered around Prague by the Czech Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) party. This hard-line anti-EU, anti-immigration, anti-lockdown and vaccine-sceptic movement – which is currently polling at around 12 per cent – may hold the key to power for the ruling ANO party after a hotly contested election campaign.
The Czech electoral landscape has turned on its head since the spring. Then, the darkest days of the pandemic seemed to have dealt a death sentence to ANO’s chances of remaining in government. The colourful Czech Pirates were then riding a wave of optimism, polling far ahead of any other party at around 28 per cent.
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