Final Word from Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Do the Czech public media manipulate political polls as part of their mission to promote democracy? Consider the following. When Czech TV's OVM debate show released a new Kantar poll on March 10 giving ANO a 39.0% rating, compared to 20.0% for Spolu, political analysts were at a loss for how to explain it. No other poll had given ANO such a big lead. On that same debate show, Foreign Min. Jan Lipavský of the Pirates declared that ex-PM Andrej Babiš was starting to present a security risk. Babiš's subsequent email about Lipavský was an added bonus, and the result was yesterday's special session of Parliament about Babiš as a security risk. On Jan. 19, Petr Honzejk of HN wrote that it's a myth that the policy of opposing Babiš is obsolete and that the democratic parties should launch what he called "Antibabiš 2.0." And now we have it. When Kantar releases its next poll, Václav Moravec of OVM will be able to attribute the inevitable big drop in ANO's rating to the new anti-Babiš campaign. Brilliant. [ Czech Republic Television Otázky Václav Moravce CZ survey ANO Hospodářské noviny Czech Radio anti-Babiš ]