Final Word from Monday, July 24, 2023
Journalist Jan Vávra said on Czech Radio Plus yesterday that the most likely coalition partners after the next parliamentary elections are ANO and ODS. He was basing this on the latest Median poll, which gives ANO an estimated 87 seats in the next Parliament and ODS an estimated 37. Median has been promoting the idea of an ANO-ODS grand coalition for the past several months by stressing that the two parties would have a constitutional majority of more than 120 seats (see also its March and May surveys). Yet ANO would also be able to form a coalition with any one of the other parties in Parliament, and it's unclear why Andrej Babiš would prefer a strong coalition partner over a weak one. A coalition of ANO and ODS would of course mean the breakup of the Spolu/Together coalition of ODS, TOP 09 and KDU-ČSL, which is the cornerstone of PM Petr Fiala's politics. Any talk of a grand coalition of ANO and ODS should therefore be seen as an attack on Fiala and those in his camp. [ Czech Republic ČRo break-up election poll ]
Glossary of difficult words
grand coalition - a coalition in a multi-party parliamentary system of the two largest political parties of opposing political ideologies;
cornerstone - an important quality or feature on which a particular thing depends or is based.