'Yes'), officially called ANO 2011,[29] is a right-wing populist political party in the Czech Republic, led by businessman Andrej Babiš, who served as Prime Minister from 2017 to 2021.
The party's ideological character is contested by political scientists, though it is widely considered to be populist in nature.
[30][31] In the parliamentary election held on 25 and 26 October 2013, ANO won 18.7% of the vote and 47 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, finishing in second place behind the Social Democrats.
[35] The party joined the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group in the European Parliament.
[36] On 10 September 2014, ANO member Věra Jourová was named European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality in the Juncker Commission.
[53] ANO formed the short-lived first Babiš government with independent ministers on 13 December 2017, failing a vote of confidence on 16 January 2018.
On 12 July 2018 the second Babiš government was formed, with the Social Democrats participating as the junior coalition partner.
[55] ANO went into the 2021 parliamentary election leading in opinion polls, but finished second behind the Spolu coalition, though with a higher number of seats.
[91] Additionally, ANO, or more specifically Babiš, has been compared to Silvio Berlusconi from Forza Italia or President of the United States Donald Trump.
[93] After the 2017 Czech parliamentary election, ANO formed a minority government with support from the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM), ending the cordon sanitaire against them.
Following the 2021 Czech parliamentary election, Euronews speculated that ANO may try to position itself as a left-wing and populist opposition party, in order to absorb votes from the Social Democrats, the Communist Party, and Přísaha, all of which remained outside of parliament after failing to cross the required 5% threshold.
[76] The ANO leadership has also criticised the centre-right ODS, claiming that it is no longer right-wing, but is instead in the "progressive camp" with the Czech Pirate Party.
[96] ANO generally opposes economic liberalism, unlike its main rival, the Civic Democratic Party (ODS).
[97] In the area of healthcare, Babiš has criticised public health insurance companies for their level of spending.
[103] Babiš stated that ANO opposes the Czech Republic's adoption of the Euro, further European integration, immigration quotas, and "Brussels bureaucracy".
He also argued in favour of closer ties with Germany and said the Czech Republic was already ready to sign the Fiscal Compact treaty at the time of the interview in 2014.
[115] Young ANO, the party's youth wing, was established on 1 May 2015,[116] with Kateřina Reiblová as the inaugural leader.
[123] In June 2024, ANO unilaterally resigned from both the ALDE party and its affiliated Renew Europe group in the European Parliament.