This past weekend, Andrej Babis, the Czech Republic’s seemingly invincible populist leader, was the unexpected loser of its elections, after a coalition of previously divided center-right parties united against him. They had a simple, clear message: We can beat Babis.
The success of these Czech opposition parties could have major repercussions in the region and beyond. For the past decade, strongman leaders disdainful of democratic norms have risen to power around the world. Now, opposition leaders are mobilizing, trying to forge unified fronts and oust populist leaders in upcoming elections.
In Hungary, for instance, six parties across the political spectrum are collaborating to oppose the party of Viktor Orban, the right-wing leader who has become a standard-bearer for “illiberal democracy.” And in Poland, Donald Tusk, a former prime minister and European Council president, hopes to rally the main opposition party and people who often do not vote, and to lure support from a plethora of other opposition groups.
Quotable: “Populism is beatable,” said Otto Eibl, the head of the political science department at Masaryk University in the Czech city of Brno. “The first step in beating a populist leader is to suppress individual egos and to compromise in the interest of bringing a change.”