PRAGUE (AP) — A conservative opposition party in the Czech Republic has won an election for a third of the seats in Parliament’s upper house as the ruling coalition of Prime Minister Andrej Babis suffered a setback.
With nearly all the votes counted Saturday by the Statistics Office, the Civic Democratic Party won 10 of the 27 seats up for grabs in the 81-seat Senate in the two-round election.
Babis’ ANO (YES) centrist movement and its coalition partner, the leftist Social Democrats, won only one seat each.
The opposition parties now control the Senate.
Parliament’s lower house dominates the legislative process, but the Senate plays an important role in passing constitutional amendments and approving Constitutional Court judges.
The maverick Communist Party has no seat in the Senate for the first time after this election.
