Fiala's party finished a distant second place in the 2017 legislative election, and remained in opposition despite multiple offers from the incoming Prime Minister Andrej Babiš to participate in his governing coalition.

He became its candidate for the premiership in the 2021 Czech legislative election, running on a pro-Western and pro-European centre-right platform, focused on fiscal responsibility and closer relations with NATO as part of Atlanticism.

The alliance outperformed initial opinion polls and received the highest number of votes in the election, though with one seat fewer in the Chamber of Deputies than second-placed ANO 2011.

He was appointed prime minister by President Miloš Zeman on 28 November 2021 and Petr Fiala's Cabinet took power on 17 December, making him the third oldest person to hold the office, as well as the first with a political science background and the first from Brno.

Fiala came into office promising to reform and stabilize the government's growing national debt; however, the early months of his premiership saw the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the provision of aid to Ukraine, and the opening of the Czech Republic's borders to the highest number of Ukrainian refugees per capita in the ensuing Ukrainian refugee crisis.

Fiala's administration also faced rising inflation, concerns about the economy, the ongoing global energy crisis, fall of real wages and low approval ratings.

[2][3] Fiala studied history and Czech language at the Faculty of Literature of Masaryk University between 1983 and 1988, and after graduating he worked as a historian in a local museum in Kroměříž.

[11] After November 1989, Fiala continued his publishing and civic activism, working as an editor for magazines such as Proglas, Revue Politika, and Kontexty.

[12] Fiala has been active for a long time in institutions and bodies related to higher education and research in the Czech Republic and abroad.

He is a member of many scientific and academic councils of public and private universities and research institutions in the Czech Republic and abroad.

[30] On 28 November 2021, President Miloš Zeman appointed Petr Fiala as the 13th Prime Minister of the Czech Republic.

[34] The train journey, described by the media as a "risky mission",[35] as well as an "extraordinary attempt to demonstrate support",[36] was the first visit by foreign leaders to Kyiv since the start of the Russian invasion,[37] and was hailed by President Zelenskyy as a "great, brave, correct and sincere step" after the meeting.

[39][40] The Presidency of the Council under Fiala was considered to have "achieved historic results", as stated by the First Vice-President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans.

[43] Starting from 2023, the Czech Republic went into recession,[44] and subsequently continued to underperform economically relative to other European Union member states, which were showing signs of recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

[55] On 26 February 2024, Fiala attended an emergency summit in Paris hosted by Emmanuel Macron, to discuss the military situation in Ukraine, as they had recently suffered the loss of Avdiivka.

[68][69] In August 2016, Fiala stated that "radical Islam is at war with Europe" and that the European Union should not accept migrants who pose a risk.

[71] Fiala expressed opposition to Russian and Chinese involvement in the construction of the new unit of the Dukovany Nuclear Power Plant.

[72] He also claimed that human impact on climate change is "not entirely clear", which was met with criticism and accusations of populism from environmental experts.

Black Lives Matter", referring to a wave of protests against police brutality and racism triggered by the murder of George Floyd in the United States.

[84] In May 2024, he described the International Criminal Court's request for an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant as "appalling and absolutely unacceptable", saying "We must not forget that it was Hamas that attacked Israel in October and killed, injured and kidnapped thousands of innocent people.

"[85] When arrest warrants were issued in November 2024 against Netanyahu, Gallant, and former Hamas commander Mohammed Deif, Fiala criticised the decision, saying through a spokesperson that "the ICC weakens its authority in different cases when it puts the democratically-elected representatives of Israel on the same level as terrorist organizations".

Fiala played football until the age of 40 and also enjoys tennis, shooting, skiing, swimming, jazz music and James Bond movies.

[88] In January 2024, it emerged that Fiala had omitted to declare an ownership stake of almost 1 million CZK in the Podnikatelska Druzstevni Zalozna credit union.