For a brief period during last month’s Czech election campaign it seemed like the country was heading toward a Czexit referendum. Prime Minister Andrej Babis was desperately looking for a coalition partner and the Eurosceptic Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) party had insisted on a referendum as part of any deal. In the end, the Czech PM couldn’t scrape together a majority, meaning a pro-EU coalition will take over this month. But it was still nothing short of remarkable for the country to come so close to holding a referendum on its EU membership.
The leader of the SPD, Tomio Okamura, was the key figure behind this push for an EU referendum. And while the latest election represents a setback for the Czech Eurosceptic movement, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the story isn’t over for this most colourful and eccentric politician, who may well be the Czech Republic’s answer to Nigel Farage.
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