In some parts of the Czech Republic, the marginalization of the ANO candidates themselves is such a significant phenomenon that even the political competition is commenting on it. Because of this, the South Moravian Governor for Spolu Jan Grolich (KDU-ČSL) filmed a special video where he appeals to the voters that they should not jump on the campaign of the ANO movement, but should consider how someone in the region really behaves. “Andrej Babiš is not running here,” he says YES to the voters and asks for their vote for him.
It was the ANO meeting in South Moravia, where leader Ivana Solařová was given minimal space for self-presentation, that shed light on the whole situation. Solařová, however, considers it more of an advantage. “Every leader must be happy if he is supported by the most prominent personalities of the movement and it can be seen that we are pulling together,” answered Práva Solařová.
A similar scenario is taking place, for example, in the closely watched Central Bohemia region. There, the almost unknown deputy Tomáš Helebrant is running for governor, the deputy speaker of the Chamber of Deputies and the shadow prime minister of Babiš’s government, Karel Havlíček, “secures” him from the last place.
Havlíček as a supervisor
Thanks to Havlíček’s popularity, it can be assumed that he will overtake his leader in preferential votes, and the voters will thus decide for themselves who they really want as the head of the governorship. “No, I will not be the governor. I only came to help,” he said to Novinká Havlíček. “Havlíček will guarantee that when Helebrant is the governor, he will see to it that he does it well.”
Central Bohemian number one ANO agrees with this. “I don’t see it as a disadvantage, but on the contrary as an advantage,” said Helebrant.
Against the matador of regional politics, Martin Půt (SLK), in the Liberec region, ANO put another almost unknown politician, not only from a national point of view, but also in the region itself. This is MP David Pražák, who started to become more involved in the social life of the region only in connection with his candidacy.
Pražák believes that the overshadowing of some regional leaders by party aces is just an artificially created topic. “It is normal in all parties that the leaders and main faces are better known. I don’t think that’s a thing that people care about. They are interested in what is happening in their regions,” responded Pražák. He himself does not feel overshadowed.
South Bohemian leader Roman Kubíček, on the other hand, admits it, but it doesn’t bother him. He is also a member of parliament, but he also does not belong to the political leaders of ANO. “They are clearly the most outstanding personalities and it helps us a lot in the regions. Compared to these personalities, politicians in the region often have only half the reach,” Novinek responded to the question.
Confirmation that the candidate is fine
According to political scientists, the strategy of the ANO movement is logical. “It has not had candidates at lower levels for a long time,” says political scientist Otto Eibl from Masaryk University in Brno. According to him, Babiš on posters or Schillerová at a meeting should add legitimacy to the candidates and it helps people to notice them at all.
“The voter of the ANO movement is still very much fixated on the leader, but compared to its beginnings, it is decreasing,” said his colleague Lubomír Kopeček. For example, the movement’s media strategy, which presents its main aides Schillerová and Havlíček to the voters with the same seriousness as Babiš, contributes to this. Furthermore, more and more voters are starting to fixate directly on the ANO brand.
Of course, there are exceptions. Not all leaders rely on the star trio of movements. Zlín governor Radim Holiš has already built up his own popularity in the region and agreed with the headquarters that, in addition to the slogan “We will give you back what the government took from you”, he will also sell his own work in the campaign. “We decided to spare the forces of our top politicians for other regions. We also want to have thematic regional slogans on the billboards,” he told Fairpress.
Similarly, the leader of Olomouc, Ladislav Okleštěk, who was also the governor once, can do without the assistance of the “holy trinity”. “I don’t need to hide behind anyone. I stand by that. Already because I think that no one from our center knows the issues of the region better than I do,” emphasized the politician, who was the governor of Olomouc between 2017 and 2020.
And thirdly, Richard Brabec, the former minister of the environment in the Babiš government, who has been one of the most prominent faces of the ANO movement since its inception, is campaigning on his “face”, as he says. A man with party card number 002 saves the election result of the ANO movement in the Ústí Region after the corruption scandal of the original leader.
