Dalibor Rohak is a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He tweeted @DaliborRohac.
In an era where it has become customary to see democracy on the ballot in every election, the Czech Republic’s presidential race provides a refreshing counter-example.
It is not that the office of the President is politically insignificant. Despite having a largely formal presidency, the Czech head of state actually has considerable leeway when it comes to foreign policy and informal influence.
However, in a fortnight’s time, flamboyant billionaire and former prime minister Lady Babis will face Petr Pavel, a retired army general and former chairman of the NATO military committee, in the run-off. And even though the Czechs are polarized in a way that is now all too familiar to Western observers – with the two leading candidates neck-and-neck after last weekend’s first round – populism and technodemocracy, between “somewhere” and “anywhere” This common rift between rural blue-collar and highly educated urban voters is a highly malleable, sanitized version of that conflict.
To be sure, there is no doubt that Pavel’s presidency will be a dignified and competently executed affair – perhaps offering a continuation of the values-based approach associated with Vaclav Havel’s leadership in the late 1990s and early 2000s. as well. Still, the choice is troubling elite circles across Europe – but it shouldn’t.
It would be a wild fantasy to believe that the strength of Czech political institutions or the health of the country’s democracy depend on the outcome of this election.
Babis has already served a full term as Prime Minister of the Czech Republic. And while he is often compared to Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán or Poland’s Law and Justice Party leader Jarosław Kaczyński, during his time in office, the country did not see the same efforts at deputation.
Raised in Slovakia, and sporting a heavy Slovak accent, Babis would make an odd avatar for Czech ethnocentrism – if such a thing existed. Indeed, his brand of populism is managerial in nature, as is his traditional campaign promise: to manage the state like a firm.
To be sure, the latter idea is also troubling, as is the fact that Babis never properly divested her of her wealth during her time in politics. His group, Agrofert, remained the largest private sector employer in the Czech Republic throughout its premiership – including many businesses in sectors such as agriculture, fertilizers and food processing – and remained on the receiving end of billions from the EU budget. are.
Babis had been under criminal investigation for years for alleged subsidy fraud, involving the construction of his signature countryside resort, the Storks Nest. a court Has agreed to All the charges against him came just four days before the first round of elections.
Still, whatever the merits of the case – and an EU audit actually flagged the stork’s nest subsidy as a breach of relevant rules – it’s telling that in the Czech Republic’s polarized political climate no one can go to court. Not challenging the verdict as illegitimate or politically.
And one might ask about the former prime minister’s attitudes toward Russia and China – especially since one of the most troubling aspects of Miloš Zeman’s current presidency is his soft spot for Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Used to be? Although Zeman quickly distanced himself from the Kremlin after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, his former nemesis has left a bitter taste – as has the over-the-top reception accorded to Xi on his first state visit to the Czech Republic in 2016 Is.
But during Babis’ four years as prime minister, his cabinet adopted a comparatively conventional, perhaps somewhat aggressive, policy towards both countries. Babiš’s party, ANO 2011, is a member of Renew Europe – the left-liberal family of parties in the European Parliament – which was led in its previous iteration by European hard-federalist Guy Verhofstadt.
In fact, to prove that he is not an outcast like Orban, even Babis took a quick tour in Paris a few days before the first round of elections, and was received not only by French President Emmanuel Macron, but also by Bernard Arnault, chairman of luxury conglomerate LVMH and the world’s richest man, as well as exiled Czech writer Milan Kundera.
Finally, for those who fear the Czech Republic might go the way of Poland and Hungary, there should be some relief in the fact that a Babis presidency would be the kiss of death for his political party – a party that Built exclusively around its founder, with its own personal resources and no governing philosophy other than its own whims.
In short, whatever happens in the run-off, Czech democracy will be fine.
For all of Babis’ flaws – including his often tasteless rhetoric, conflicts of interest and possible collaboration with communist secret police – he poses no threat to his country’s constitutional system. Nor is he – as some critics allege – an anomaly in the body politic.
Like it or not, the Babis and their struggle with the urban intelligentsia of Prague are actually vibrant democratic politics in Europe, and indeed in the advanced West, in the 21st century.