Populist vote may turn Czechs against EU

THE Czech Republic should follow Britain’s example and hold a referendum over its EU membership, the leader of a far-right party that could become kingmaker in this weekend’s general election has said.

Tomio Okamura, leader of Freedom and Direct Democracy Party (SPD), made the call on the eve of today’s general election as his party experiences a surge in popularity in the polls.

Now heading for around 10 per cent of the vote, it could form part of a coalition government, and try to push its hard-line anti-eu and anti-immigration policies into the political mainstream.

“Just like Britain, we want a referendum on EU membership,” Mr Okamura told The Daily Telegraph. “Over the last couple of years, the EU has shown itself to be unreformable.

“The elites are incapable of showing the flexibility needed to react to current and crucial problems such as terrorism and the migration of Muslim-african colonisers to Europe.”

Czechs vote today and tomorrow in an election that is predicted to unseat the current three-party coalition government led by Bohuslav Sobotka, the prime minister, from the centre-left Social Democrats.

Mr Okamura, whose fiery rhetoric has led to accusations of racism, has become increasingly popular with Czechs disaffected with globalisation and EU membership. Most opinion polls point to the centre-right Ano party, led by Andrej Babis, a billionaire, as the clear favourite to emerge as the largest party, but without a governing majority.

Regarded as a populist and a strong Eurosceptic, he could move Czechs away from mainstream European politics and align it with the populist Rightwing governments of Hungary and Poland. Ano may well have to form a coalition, and if the SPD passes nine per cent, political analysts say it will be impossible for Mr Babis to ignore it. Otilia Dhand, of Teneo Intelligence, a political risk analyst firm, told The

Daily Telegraph: “We have seen the fringe parties pulling the mainstream to the fringe across central and eastern Europe. Mr Babis could be that populist voice the mainstream parties have to pay attention to.”