Controversial far-right coalition comes third in Czech EU elections

In a surprising turn of events, the controversial far-right coalition of Přísaha and Motoristé (Oath and motorists), led by a controversial former race car driver and influencer, made significant gains in Czechia’s European elections on Sunday, securing two seats and emerging as the country’s third party.

The coalition raised eyebrows following FilipTurek’s displaying of Nazi symbols – from Nazi salutes to support for symbols of the Greek neo-Nazi political party Golden Dawn.

Turek promised to arrive at the first plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg by a car with a “large carbon footprint,” highlighting the coalition’s disregard for environmental concerns. Despite these controversial stances, the coalition secured a significant portion of the vote (10.26%).

Přísaha and Motoristé do not yet belong to any group in the European Parliament, but Turek made the coalition plans clear.

“Our obvious coalition partner is the ECR and anyone who opposes green progressivism in the European Parliament. And there will be more and more of those people after these elections,” he told Euractiv Czechia.

Meanwhile, Andrej Babiš’s ANO (Renew) party won with 26.14% of the vote, securing seven mandates. The result is a significant achievement for ANO, especially in an election with a record-high turnout of 36.5%. The governing coalition SPOLU followed closely behind with six mandates.

The poor performance of the other two governing parties, STAN and Piráti, was another surprise on Czech election night as these two parties were beaten by the far-right coalition of Přísaha and Motoristé.

(Aneta Zachová | Euractiv.cz)

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