Czech Republic, campaigning also done on the faces of party leaders

Brussels – White, red, blue: The colours of the flag are the same; just a touch of Photoshop, and it’s done. A photoshopped election battle (and bitter controversy) is underway in the Czech Republic, featuring the faces of former prime minister and controversial leader of the Ano liberals, Andrej Babiš, and his leading candidate in June’s European elections, Klára Dostálova, depicted as supporters of the Kremlin’s demands one month before citizens go to the polls for the renewal of the European Parliament.

It all started last May 1, when the liberal-conservative-oriented populist party (a member of the European ALDE family, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe) launched its election campaign with the slogan Česko pro tebe všecko (“Czech Republic, all for you”). As reported by the Czech media, the centre-right Spolu coalition, currently in the government led by the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) of Prime Minister Petr Fiala, swiftly relaunched a counter-campaign. Instead of the Czech Republic flag, the Russian one appeared painted on the faces of Babiš and Dostálova, with the slogan changed to Rusko pro tebe všecko (“Russia, all for you”).

Former prime minister of the Czech Republic and leader of Ano, Andrej Babiš

Ano’s campaign parody was not directly claimed by the centre-right coalition or the governing member party of the Party of European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR)—which is chaired by Italy’s Premier, Giorgia Meloni—but was widely shared and likely commissioned by sympathizers or members of Spolu. The (independent) President of the Republic, Petr Pavel, has criticized the counter-campaign, claiming that it is as “dangerous and irresponsible” as ex-premier Babiš’s statements about the war in Ukraine (particularly about the energy consequences in Europe and the country) and the risk of war with Russia to appeal to voters’ fears.

Babiš is a well-known political figure in Brussels, especially for his conflicts of interest when he was the Czech Republic’s prime minister (between 2017 and 2021). In 2022, the EU Commission inflicted a fine of €3.3 million on Prague due to years of piloted management of EU agricultural subsidies through companies of the agrochemical holding company Agrofert, of which he was first sole director and then owner of at least two trust funds. In 2021, the findings of an inspection of the accounts by the EU executive had established a conflict of interest during EU budget negotiations and estimated the illicit distribution of funding from Brussels to Agrofert at €11 million.