Euroskeptic Billionaire on Route to Czech Election Victory

Andrej Babis, who has drawn comparisons to Donald Trump and Silvio Berlusconi, had a wide lead in opinion polls before two days of voting started Friday. With a chemical, food and media empire employing 34,000 in 18 countries, the Slovak-born businessman -- and second-richest Czech -- increased his popularity while serving as finance minister before he was fired by his coalition partner, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka.

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Regardless of the government's economic achievements, polls have shown the emergence of protest parties including the anti-immigrant Freedom and Direct Democracy, known as SPD, and the Pirate party. Alongside the Communists -- the descendants of the Moscow-backed regime that ruled before the 1989 collapse of the Iron Curtain -- the three could take more than a quarter of parliament's seats.