PRAGUE: Czech Presi­dent Milos Zeman said on Sunday he would name Andrej Babis prime minister, but the tycoon leader of the anti-establishment ANO party may struggle to find coalition partners despite his emphatic election win.

ANO won 29.6 per cent of the vote at the weekend’s polls, nearly three times as much as its closest rival, but many parties expressed reluctance or rejected outright any coalition with it while Babis fights off fraud charges.

Zeman said the charges were not an obstacle for Babis — the second richest Czech who has been compared to other tycoons-turned-political leaders Don­ald Trump and Silvio Berlusconi — to become pri­me minister.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2017