ANO 2011
ANO 2011 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Andrej Babiš |
| Founded | 11 May 2012 |
| Headquarters | Babická 2329/2 149 00 Praha 4 |
| Youth wing | Young ANO[1] |
| Membership (2015) | 2712[2] |
| Ideology |
Centrism[3][4][5] Liberalism[6] Populism[7] |
| Political position | Centre[5] to Centre-right[8] |
| European affiliation | Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe |
| International affiliation | None |
| European Parliament group | Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe |
| Colours | Blue |
| Chamber of Deputies |
47 / 200 |
| Senate |
4 / 81 |
| European Parliament |
4 / 21 |
| Regional councils |
0 / 675 |
| Local councils |
1,610 / 62,300 |
| Website | |
| http://www.anobudelip.cz/ | |
ANO 2011 is a centrist[4] and populist[9] political party in the Czech Republic founded by Andrej Babiš, second wealthiest man in the Czech republic, owner of Agrofert and media publishing company MAFRA. It is based on the former movement Action of Dissatisfied Citizens (Czech: Akce nespokojených občanů, ANO). "Ano" means "yes" in Czech.
History
The idea of founding a new political party came after current leader and founder Andrej Babiš started talking about system corruption. His statements were supported by thousands of Czechs. ANO 2011 started as association in November 2011 and on 11 May 2012 ANO became official political party in the Czech Republic.[10]
In 2013 Czech legislative election held on 25–26 October 2013, ANO gained 18.7% of the vote and 47 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, attaining second place behind the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD).[11]
On 29 January 2014 the Cabinet of Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka was sworn in,[12] with ANO and the Christian Democratic Union (KDU–ČSL) participating as junior coalition partners to the ČSSD.[13]
On 24–25 May 2014 ANO came first nationally in the 2014 European election gaining 16.13% of votes and 4 seats,[14] joining the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group in European Parliament.[15] On 10 September 2014 ANO member Věra Jourová was designated European Commissioner of Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality in the Juncker Commission.[16]
In the 2014 senate and municipal elections held on 10–11 October 2014, ANO won 4 seats in the Senate. ANO was also the largest party in 8 of the 10 biggest cities in the Czech Republic including its capital, Prague. It currently holds mayoral offices in three largest cities in the Czech republic. Adriana Krnáčová is the first female mayor of Prague.[17] This success was later devalved when large number of municipal coalitions broke up because of Party's disunity.[18]
On 21 November 2014, ANO was given full membership of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) at the ALDE congress in Lisbon.[19]
Ideology and political positions
Founded in 2011 and led by multi-millionaire entrepreneur Andrej Babiš, ANO identifies itself as political movement, rather than party, it does not want to be labeled on left–right political axis. It aims at cleaning the country from corruption, abolishing immunity for politicians, fighting unemployment, and improving the transport infrastructure. Ideologically, the party is often placed on the centre and shares political similarities with the Christian and Democratic Union (KDU–ČSL), but does not rule out any collaboration with other parties.[20][21]
Andrej Babiš stated in a post-election interview that he opposes the Czech Republic's adoption of the euro, and ANO does not want any deeper European integration or any more bureaucracy from Brussels.[22] However, Andrej Babiš stated later that he was open to euro after the Czech Republic has a balanced budget. He also pleaded for closer ties with Germany and he said the Czech Republic was ready to sign the Fiscal Compact treaty now.[23] In some spheres, like tax policy, he (re)introduced center-left elements, like abolition of partial tax exemption for self-employed person and restoration of partial tax exemption for employed pensioner. He also introduced proposal to increase school teacher wages by 2.5%, contrary to original proposal to increase only by 1%.[24] In sphere of health care, he criticized public health insurance companies because of their enormous spending.[25]
Its political position is debated among politicians and political scientists. Right-wing politicians and commentators place ANO 2011 to the left while scientists place it mostly to the centre.[26][27][28] Andrej Babiš in one interview stated that ANO 2011 is "a Right-Wing party with social Empathy."[29][30][31]
