Czech Billionaire Risks Helping Communist Comeback
By Peter Laca - Oct 21, 2013
Andrej Babis, a self-made Czech billionaire, may inadvertently help the Communists grab a share of national power for the first time since the 1989 revolution.
Babis, 59, has propelled his ANO party into the frontline of Czech politics and to second place in opinion polls by slamming his rivals as inept liars out for personal gain. His caustic style has alienated the rest of the country’s political class and risks pushing the poll-leading Social Democrats into an alliance with the Communists after the Oct. 25-26 election.
“This dynamic plays straight into hands of the Communist Party, as they increasingly look like the most reliable partner for the Social Democrats,” Otilia Dhand, an analyst at Teneo Intelligence, a London-based political consultancy, said in a telephone interview.
It was the demise of communism 24 years ago that gave Babis a chance to build an $11 billion agrochemical business on the ruins of the centrally planned economy. As a self-made man, he’s now tapping into the anger of a population following a spying and bribery scandal in June that brought down the government of former Prime Minister Petr Necas.
“We have a pseudo-democracy, in which you can go to elections once in four years, select four names from the list of candidates, and that’s it,” Babis said in an interview as he snapped commands at his campaign staff hustling to respond to a rival’s attack. “After the election, the politicians disappear and all they care about is themselves.”
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-20/czech-billionaire-risks-helping-communist-comeback-amid-turmoil.html
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