Andrej Babis
Billionaire Andrej Babis’s populist ANO party took a commanding lead in the Czech Republic’s parliamentary election, but fell short of a majority. With ballots from more than 97 percent of polling stations counted 04 September 2025, ANO had 35 percent of the vote, according to the Czech Statistical Office. Prime Minister Petr Fiala’s centre-right Spolu (Together) alliance trailed with 23 percent.
Andrej Babiš is a Czech politician and businessman who served as Prime Minister of the Czech Republic from December 2017 to December 2021. Born in 1954 in Bratislava, then part of Czechoslovakia, Babiš built a substantial business empire before entering politics, becoming one of the wealthiest individuals in the Czech Republic through his conglomerate Agrofert, which operates in agriculture, food processing, chemicals, and media.
Babis was often compared with US President Donald Trump, former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi or Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban. In reality, however, he stands for his very own, Czech brand of populism. When Babis appeared on the campaign trail, he generally speaks out against "the system" and "corrupt politicians," saying that the political establishment is incapable, bureaucratic and inefficient, that it disregards the people, divides up posts among its own, lies, cheats and wastes money. He claimed that as a successful entrepreneur, he would do things very differently, running the state like a company. He also pledged to listen to the people, clean up the country in their name and help them to lead good and dignified lives.
Although the billionaire liked to portray himself as the rebellious underdog in a hoodie and as the spokesperson of the poor and downtrodden, he has been part of the country's establishment all his life. Babiš was born in 1954 in Bratislava in what is now Slovakia. He grew up in a family that belonged to the powerful elite of the communist dictatorship of Czechoslovakia. Due to his father's work as a trade representative, Babis lived for a time both in Switzerland and in France. After finishing high school in Geneva, he graduated from the University of Economics in Bratislava, Faculty of Commerce, specialising in foreign trade. He later worked in foreign trade himself in a number of places, including Morocco.
In 1978, he started work in the foreign trade company Chemapol Bratislava. In the autumn of 1985, he was sent to Morocco as a delegate of the Slovak company Petrimex, where he represented approximately 15 foreign trade companies, e.g. Ligna or Motokov. From 1985 to 1991, he worked in Morocco as representative of the Slovak company Petrimex and returned to Prague in 1991 to become Director of the Company’s Business Group. He returned to Petrimex in Bratislava in 1991, where he worked as director of the commercial group.
His mysterious rise to the ranks of the super-rich in the Czech Republic began in the "wild 1990s," the period after the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe.
In January 1993, he founded the agricultural and chemical holding Agrofert in Prague with four co-workers. In 1995, he assumed ownership ofAgrofert, which he had previously run as director. Babis tells a number of different versions of the story of how he came to own Agrofert, though many critics see them as vague and sometimes implausible. Agrofert is currently the largest Czech agricultural, food and chemical holding, which he owned in 100%. Agrofert encompasses about 250 companies worldwide, and Babis is currently estimated to be worth about $3.5 billion (€3 billion). In 2016, Andrej Babiš transferred all the assets of his firms to two trust funds.
In the autumn of 2011, Andrej Babiš spoke in the media about system corruption that has grown through public administration. His speech attracted the response of thousands of citizens and gave a spontaneous rise to the initiative Action for Dissatisfied Citizens. Based on their requirements, a call was compiled, summarizing the key ideas that lent content to the ANO association which was established subsequently in November 2011.
Babiš founded the political movement ANO 2011, with the party name being an acronym standing for "Action of Dissatisfied Citizens" that also means "yes" in Czech. Ever since, ANO's most important slogan has been "Yes, things will get better!" and its promise that Babis will set things to rights in the country. The party positioned itself as a centrist, anti-establishment movement focused on fighting corruption and running the state like a business. His political rise was meteoric, and ANO quickly became a major force in Czech politics, appealing to voters frustrated with traditional political parties and promising efficient, business-like governance. The voters gave him the opportunity to do just that: Babis was first finance minister from 2014 to 2017.
As the number of supporters grew, voices were heard, recommending its direct involvement in politics. In May, it was registered as a political movement that can take part in democratic parliamentary elections. It received nearly a million votes in the early election in 2013, which was the highest number for a new political entity in the history of the Czech Republic. The consecutive regular parliamentary election in 2017 was won by ANO with more than 1.5 million votes. Andrej Babiš was appointed Prime Minister in December 2017. He formed a minority government composed of ANO party members and independents which lost a confidence vote in the Chamber of Deputies. After resigning, Andrej Babiš started negotiations about a future government the following day and succeeded to form a new government in June 2018. His tenure as Prime Minister was marked by significant controversy, particularly regarding conflicts of interest related to his business holdings. While he was prime minister, there were mass protests in response to the scandals involving Babis and demonstrations for a "clean country." According to Babis, these were all propaganda activities organized by his enemies.
Despite placing Agrofert into trust funds, critics argued that he continued to benefit from his companies, which received substantial EU subsidies. The European Commission conducted investigations into potential misuse of EU funds, and Babiš faced ongoing accusations of fraud related to a case involving EU subsidies for a farm and conference center called Stork's Nest. These allegations dogged his administration throughout his time in office.
His tenure became mired in endless debates about his alleged involvement in cases of fraud and corruption. The Stork's Nest was one such case. The Stork's Nest is a wellness resort near Prague for which Babis was granted EU subsidies. It is alleged that he formally took a company out of the Agrofert Holding for a time to make it eligible for subsidies. Investigations into the Stork's Nest had been ongoing for almost a decade now. There had already been a number of rulings in the case, and in June 2025, a court in Prague ruled that the entire case had to be reopened.
The Stork's Nest was just one among many stories about Babis' alleged financial irregularities. For years, he has been in the headlines because of allegations of conflicts of interest, tax evasion, corruption, influencing the media and his past in the secret service of communist Czechoslovakia. He put his Agrofert Holding into trust funds in 2017. A court later determined that in doing so, he had obscured his role as owner. Babis was forced to sell his media companies in 2023 because of a law governing conflicts of interest.
Like many populist leaders elsewhere, he had long been agitating against migrants and, more recently, against Ukrainian refugees. Nevertheless, it has been reported that his business empire employs numerous workers from non-EU countries such as Vietnam or Ukraine, sometimes under inhuman conditions.
A court in Slovakia found that Babis once worked as an agent for the Czechoslovak secret service, the StB, under the code name "Bures," though Babis denies this, and the issue has been the subject of numerous lawsuits between him and the Slovakian government. Whenever such a controversy pops up, Babis either says that he has "done nothing illegal" or that "the system" wants to take revenge and destroy him.
On policy matters, Babiš took a pragmatic and often populist approach. He opposed EU migration quotas and took a hard line on immigration, aligning with other Central European leaders like Hungary's Viktor Orbán. His government increased public spending on pensions and social benefits, which proved popular with many voters. He was also critical of certain EU policies while maintaining that the Czech Republic should remain in the European Union, though he opposed adoption of the euro currency.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Babiš's government faced criticism for its handling of the crisis, with the Czech Republic experiencing some of Europe's highest infection and death rates at various points. The government's response, including lockdown measures and vaccination campaigns, became politically contentious and contributed to declining public support for his administration.
Despite these challenges, Babiš remained a dominant figure in Czech politics, though his coalition lost the 2021 parliamentary elections to an opposition alliance led by Petr Fiala. The election was closely fought, and Babiš initially suggested he might try to form a government, but ultimately conceded. His leadership style was often described as direct and confrontational, and he frequently used his ownership of media outlets and social media presence to communicate directly with supporters, bypassing traditional political channels. Even after leaving office, Babiš continued to be an influential political figure and ran unsuccessfully for president in 2023.
Unlike his friend Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Babis does not view the European Union as the enemy. Although he is not the mouthpiece of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whenever there is talk of military support for Ukraine, he like to deflect the conversation, saying that he is "a diplomat, not a soldier." He has not so far had the political opportunity to reorganize Czechia, but it is not clear whether he actually wants to. It is possible that he is seeking the immunity that would come with being prime minister and would mean he no longer has to be questioned or appear in court.
He speaks French, German, English and Russian. He has four children. Babis is a smooth — some observers would even say opportunistic — version of a populist, a restless man with a huge ego.
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