ANO, ALDE Party member in the Czech Republic, emerged the victor from the regional assembly elections that concluded on Saturday 3 October, winning over 22% of the vote overall and placing first in 10 of 13 regions.

In addition, one third of the seats in the Senate, 27 of the 81-member upper house of Parliament, were also being contested, with eight ANO candidates through to contest the second round of run-off voting next weekend. Senators are elected to six-year terms, with one-third of seats contested every two years.

These regional elections – about a year before scheduled parliamentary elections – are being viewed as an important measure of voter support with provisional results appearing to signal confidence in the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ANO party campaign hoped voters will appreciate its previous work using slogans "Ukázaná platí” (‘Proved to be true’) and “činy místo slov” (‘Actions instead of words’).

Except in Prague, elections were held in the countries’ 13 regions and ANO finished top in 10 of those including Moravian-Silesian, South Moravian, Olomouc, Pardubice, Vysočina, Ústí nad Labem, Karlovy Vary and Plzeň regions.

In the regional contests, the Pirate Party placed second overall with about 12% of the vote, followed by Civic Democrats (ODS) at 7%, Party for Direct Democracy (SPD) and Party of Mayors and Independents (STAN) at 6%, junior government coalition partner Social Democrats (ČSSD) at 5%, and the Christian Democrats (KDU-ČSL) at 5%.

In total, the posts of 675 regional assembly members, elected to four-year terms, were contested by 9,711 candidates, representing or aligned with a total of 85 parties or coalitions.

Turnout for the regional and first-round of Senate elections was 37.95% which was higher than in the 2016 elections (35%).

Reacting to the results, ANO party leader and Prime Minister Andrej Babiš wrote: “I want to thank all of you who went to the polls. It is truly amazing that you were not afraid of covid-19 during this period and came to vote. Of course, I want to thank our constituents and our sympathisers. Thank you. It's a great result. It is also a dose of energy for me to continue trying to help our country, the Czech Republic, succeed. I accept it with humility, I am very happy, thank you to everyone who supported us, I appreciate it”

Skvělý výsledek. Díky. Díky vám všem, kdo jste přišli k volbám. Je skutečně úžasné, že jste se nebáli v tomto období covidu-19 a přišli jste volit. Samozřejmě chci hlavně poděkovat našim voličům a našim sympatizantům, že nám zůstali věrní. Ještě jednou díky moc 🇨🇿

— Andrej Babiš (@AndrejBabis) October 3, 2020

The regional assembly results can be found here, and the first round of Senate results are here.