Final Word from Monday, October 11, 2021

There are four ways to answer the question, "Who won the Czech parliamentary elections?" First, the Spolu/Together coalition won the most votes, with 1.49m, to 1.46m for ANO. Second, ANO won the most seats in Parliament, with 72, to 71 for Spolu. Third, ANO won the most votes as an independent political entity, with 72, to 34 for ODS. Fourth, the super coalition of Spolu and Pirates/STAN, with 108 seats, has the best, and probably only, chance to form a government. The Statistical Office, which tallied the votes, lists ANO in first place, with 72 seats, but some members of the two successful coalitions and of the media are ignoring this for political reasons. These are the same politicians and media that successfully advocated a change in the voting system, yet they are now disputing the outcome of the new system in terms of ANO's narrow win. It's something they would expect from Andrej Babiš and Miloš Zeman, and now they are acting like them. That's not the best start. [ Czech Republic 2021 PirStan KDU-ČSL TOP 09 ČSÚ ]