ANO 2011

ANO 2011
Leader Andrej Babiš
Founded 11 May 2012 (2012-05-11)
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]

Election Results

Chamber of deputies of the Czech Republic

Year Vote Vote % Seats Place Government
2013 927,240 18.65 47 2nd Yes

Senate

Election First round Second round Seats
Votes % Places Votes % Places
2012 14,503 1.65 7th N/A N/A N/A 0
2014 180,136 17.55 2nd 71,739 15.14 3rd 4

European parliament election

Election Votes Share of votes in % Seats obtained Place
2014
244,501
16.13 4
1st

Local Election

Election Share of votes in % Councillors
2014
14.59
1,600

References

  1. Divíšek, Martin. "Babiš založil frakci Mladé ANO sdružující členy do 35 let". Denik.cz. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  2. Martínek, Jan. "Stranám utíkají i vymírají členové po tisících". Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  3. Bartoň, Jan. "CVVM – opět je ve hře pravostředová koalice". Virtually.cz. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Czech election: Social Democrats lead but no clear winner". bbc.com. 26 October 2013. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
  5. 1 2 Wolfram Nordsieck. "Parties and Elections in Europe: The database about parliamentary elections and political parties in Europe, by Wolfram Nordsieck". Parties-and-elections.eu. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  6. "ANO establishes training center for politicians". Praguepost.com. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  7. Czech Elections: How a Billionaire Populist Upstaged Established Parties, by Sean Hanley
  8. Tom Lansford (2015). Political Handbook of the World 2015. SAGE Publications. p. 1656. ISBN 978-1-4833-7155-9.
  9. Stijn van Kessel (2015). Populist Parties in Europe: Agents of Discontent?. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 41. ISBN 978-1-137-41411-3.
  10. "Historie ANO (in Czech)". ANO 2011. 11 May 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  11. Wayne C. Thompson (24 July 2014). Nordic, Central, and Southeastern Europe 2014. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 355. ISBN 978-1-4758-1224-4.
  12. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/30/world/europe/new-government-for-czech-republic.html?_r=0
  13. OECD (18 March 2014). OECD Economic Surveys: Czech Republic 2014. OECD Publishing. p. 19. ISBN 978-92-64-20935-0.
  14. "Czech Statistical Office: Elections to the European Parliament held on the territory of the Czech Republic on 23 – 24 May 2014". Volby.cz. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  15. "ANO 2011: Telička už makal v Bruselu, ANO je opět blíž ALDE". www.anobudelip.cz. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  16. http://www.privacylaws.com/Publications/enews/International-E-news/Dates/2014/9/Juncker-nominates-his-new-European-Commission-EU-DP-Regulation-to-be-concluded-by-May-2015/
  17. http://www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/prague-gets-its-first-female-mayor
  18. Nachtmann, Filip. "Regionální nákaza ANO. Která další koalice se rozpadne?". Echo24. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  19. "ALDE Party welcomes new member parties". Aldeparty.eu. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  20. "A Czech election with consequences". openDemocracy. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  21. "Babišovu hnutí se denně hlásí 200 zájemců o členství". Novinky.cz. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  22. "Political earthquake in the Czech Republic: Rejection of established parties". Heinrich Boell Foundation. 28 October 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  23. "Czech Finance Minister open to euro adoption, but consolidation a priority". Reuters. 11 March 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  24. "Andrej Babiš: Platy učitelů by mohly vzrůst o 2,5 procenta". Deník.cz. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  25. Česká televize. "Babiš chce pojišťovnám vzít peníze na provoz, měly by jít na péči". ČT24. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  26. Rovenský, Jan. "Babiš jede, strany od něj ale dávají ruce pryč". Novinky.cz. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  27. Kálal, Jan. "Jak předseda ODS Fiala nakročil k ANO". Echo24. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  28. Balík, Stanislav. "Text, který nesměl v MF DNES vyjít kvůli Babišovi". Echo24. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  29. "Andrej Babiš věští budoucnost: Budou tu dvě strany. ANO a ČSSD". Parlamentní Listy. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  30. Fiala, Petr. "Fiala (ODS): ANO není a nebude obhájcem zájmů středopravicových voličů". Parlamentní Listy. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  31. "Soukromníci, tato levicová vláda je pro nás velmi nebezpečná". Živnostenské Listy. Retrieved 16 January 2016.

External links

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