Following a turbulent parliamentary vote to overhaul public media funding, lawmakers and municipal politicians have begun severing ties with Andrej Babiš’s ANO movement. The departures, led by parliamentary figure David Pražák and local leaders across the Liberec Region, leave the government’s majority intact while testing internal party discipline.
Eleven years of alignment with Andrej Babiš ended for David Pražák, who announced his departure from the ANO movement while retaining his seat in the Chamber of Deputies. Under Article 24 of the Czech Constitution, lawmakers exercise their mandate personally and in accordance with their oath, remaining unbound by party directives—a legal distinction that allows Pražák to keep his parliamentary seat despite shedding his party card.
Parliament Passes Public Media Funding Overhaul
The ruling coalition forced through the first reading of a controversial bill that dismantles television and radio license fees, moving the funding of Czech Television and Czech Radio directly under the state budget during a late-night session lasting into Saturday morning.
Opposition parties fiercely condemned the move, characterizing it as an effective nationalization of public broadcasters and a direct threat to their editorial independence, while the government rejected those accusations.
David Pražák said in a statement to the Czech News Agency, according to Frekvence 1, Alongside personal reasons, it was also the fact that we have always respected the principle that national politics should not interfere with regional affairs. Unfortunately, this could no longer be respected recently, and people I respect and who do not deserve it were unfairly associated with it.
Municipal Officials Exit in Liberec Region
The parliamentary exit triggered an immediate wave of municipal secessions across the Liberec Region. In Semils, local council members elected on the ANO ticket announced they were leaving the movement alongside Pražák, who is slated to take office as the town’s mayor. The local arrangement joins the winning coalition Moje Semily
alongside independent deputies.
In Turnov, local representative Knížek severed ties with the movement, explaining that national political hostilities had made local public service untenable.
Hnutí ANO přišlo po Semilech o své městské zastupitele také v Turnově, budou vystupovat jako nezařazení. Zároveň zanikla místní buňka ANO v Turnově. Lídr tamní kandidátky ANO Jaroslav Knížek (býv. ANO) to ve čtvrtek zdůvodnil tím, že nechtějí být zatíženi celostátní politikou.… pic.twitter.com/VhKJHtFHIq
I want to do municipal politics as an independent representative and I don’t want to be burdened by national politics. And that is not just a question of ANO, that is also a question of the other parties around. Those people no longer know how to behave decently. Genus
In Česká Lípa, outgoing deputy mayor Martin Brož, municipal councillor Nela Ritnošíková Theerová, and independent candidate Zdeněk Líbal all left the movement after joining a local coalition alongside ODS, pushing ANO into the local opposition after eight years in power.
Party Leadership Responds to Regional Defections
Deputy Chairman of ANO Karel Havlíček insisted that overall membership figures remain stable, rising from 2,890 to 3,085 since the beginning of the year.
We do not record any significant drop in members; on the contrary, their number has increased year-on-year. It is true that departures are heavily publicized now, but the number of people who ended their membership after the elections is rather in the single digits. Karel
Jitka Volfová, head of the Liberec regional organization and outgoing mayor of Česká Lípa, criticized those who left local teams to secure municipal posts.
As for those who are leaving to preserve their position at the town hall and simply throw the team overboard, I am not that lenient there, I simply do not like it. If someone had reservations about the movement, they could have said so before the elections, they could have run for anyone else, or they didn't have to run at all. Jitka
Political scientists interviewed by the Czech News Agency noted that with the governing coalition holding 108 seats in the 200-member lower house, Pražák's departure leaves the legislative majority intact.