PRAGUE (Reuters) -Czech billionaire and former Prime Minister Andrej Babis’s ANO party slightly widened its lead over the main ruling centre-right coalition Spolu (Together), a final poll ahead of the October 3-4 election showed on Monday.
The poll by IPSOS showed that support for ANO edged up by 0.4 percentage point since August to 32.6%, while Spolu polled 0.4 point weaker at 21.1%.
ANO has for months held a comfortable lead in polls, boosted by promises to cut taxes, hike wages, bring more spending support, restrict immigration and push back against the European Union’s green policies.
No party is forecast to win a majority in the 200-seat lower house of parliament.
Babis, an ally of Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban and the French far-right in the eurosceptic Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament, may turn for support to the anti-EU and pro-Russian SPD and Stacilo! parties or the Motorists party.
The IPSOS poll, expected to be the last one before a pre-election moratorium on polls starting on Tuesday, was collected among 1,467 respondents between September 22 and 28. The margin of error was up to 3.4 percentage points for the largest parties, IPSOS said.
ANO SPOLU SPD STAN Pirati Stacilo! Motoriste
Sobe
September 32.6 21.1 10.1 11.2 8.7 7.7 5.4
August 32.2 21.5 11.5 10.9 7.6 7.1 5.6
July 34.9 21.9 11.4 10.0 8.6 6.3 3.9
June 34.1 20.6 10.1 9.9 6.0 6.4 4.8
May/April 34.4 21.7 10.4 9.8 6.1 5.8 4.5
March 35.8 20.9 9.8 10.3 5.8 5.1 5.0
February 36.4 20.6 7.5 10.6 5.1 4.8 4.8
January 36.7 20.5 5.7 12.0 5.0 5.5 5.4
** ANO (YES, Action by Dissatisfied Citizens) – main opposition party of billionaire and former Prime Minister Andrej Babis; part of the anti-Brussels Patriots for Europe group in European Parliament
** SPOLU (Together)- centre-right coalition led by the Civic Democrats of Prime Minister Petr Fiala; main government party
** SPD (Direct Democracy Party) – far-right, wants to quit NATO and EU, pro-Russian
** STAN (Mayors and Independents) – liberal, centrist pro-EU party, wants closer integration and adoption of the euro; junior government party
** Pirati (Pirates) – liberal, centrist party with focus on anti-graft and transparency agenda, pro-European integration, pro-euro; were part of current government until last year
** Stacilo! (Enough!) – far-left grouping around the former Communist Party; anti-EU, anti-NATO, pro-Russian; includes the diminished former ruling Social Democrats party; not represented in current parliament
** Motoriste Sobe (Motorists for Themselves) – right-wing party fighting EU’s green policies; not represented in current parliament
(Reporting by Jan Lopatka; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
