Czech billionaire ex-prime minister Andrej Babiš, the leader of the populist ANO party, is in talks with the far right and anti-EU Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) party and anti-green and staunchly Eurosceptic Motorists for Themselves to form the next government in Prague, after ANO's victory in the Czech general election this weekend.

Although it is not yet clear whether Babiš will be able to form an ANO minority cabinet, backed by SPD and the Motorists in the parliament, or bring SPD and the Motorists to government positions, it is likely that Czechia will have the most Eurosceptic cabinet yet seen.

“I will be a strong leader,” Babiš was quoted as saying by Czech Television (CT) on October 6, when he met SPD deputy Radim Fiala, sidelining earlier speculation that ANO’s number two Karel Havlíček could replace Babiš as the party’s nominee for prime minister to address his conflict of interest stemming from his ownership links to food, agriculture and chemical conglomerate Agrofert.

“There are talks between ANO, SPD and Motorists taking place, and these will certainly take place in many further rounds,” the country’s liberal President Petr Pavel was quoted as saying by Czech Radio (CRo), after he held talks with five party leaders at the Prague Castle.

Pavel is expected to task the scandal-hit Babiš, who is standing trial in a subsidy fraud case, with forming the cabinet despite the ANO leader’s controversies.

“We are putting together bodies of the Chamber of Deputies, that is, leadership and committees,” Fiala said after meeting Babiš, fuelling speculation that SPD leader Tomio Okamura could become the next parliament speaker. Okamura faces police charges following the investigation into the anti-immigration campaign carried out by the SPD last year.

Member of the European Parliament and the Motorists’ honorary chairman, Filip Turek, widely known since the European Parliament elections for his home collection of Nazi-era memorabilia, was more open with CT, telling the broadcaster that the Motorists could take the foreign affairs, environment and culture portfolios.

The Motorists became newcomers to the parliament after they made pledges not to take Czechia out of the EU and Nato in the latter part of their campaign. They also pushed to diffuse the controversies surrounding Turek, which include allegations of domestic violence, threats and rape of his ex-partner.

Motorists chairman Petr Macinka, a former aide to eurosceptic ex-president Václav Klaus, was clear in an interview with CRo that “the ambitions of the Motorists are to be part of the next government”. 

Macinka also said that “I cannot imagine programme agreement with other political parties” besides ANO and the SPD, “because they want something totally contradictory to what we want”. 

Macinka also pointed to previous cooperation between ANO and the Motorists in the Patriots for Europe European Parliament grouping. He concluded that he even expects to reach an agreement with ANO on budget issues, where the ANO programme requires more public spending while the Motorists campaigned on an austerity ticket.

ANO, like the Motorists, stated previously they it doesn’t want to challenge the country's  EU and Nato memberships, in tune with largely pro-EU and pro-Western sentiments in the Czech society, but the SPD has repeatedly called for an EU membership referendum.