(MENAFN- Live Mint) The Czech Republic on Friday began voting in a two-day general election. Czechians will vote to elect their 200-member Chamber of Deputies, which is their lower house of the Parliament, and the leader of the government that forms will become the new prime minister of the country.

Petr Fiala of the Civic Democratic Party is the incumbent prime minister. Former prime minister Andrej Babis' ANO is the current opposition party. Babis, a 71-year-old billionaire, served as PM from December 2017 to December 2021.

Polling dates

Polling for the Czech Republic began on October 3, Thursday, and will go on till October 4, Friday.

On Friday, polling stations opened at 2 pm local time and continued operations till 10 pm. On Saturday, the stations are expected to open at 8 am and remain functional until 2 pm, as per Radio Prague International (RPI).

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The 2025 elections will be the first time in the country's history when postal voting has been allowed. This came after an amendment was introduced to the country's electoral laws in 2024.

Result timings

Main results can come in by Saturday evening, RPI reported. It recounted how results were out in the previous elections by 10:24 pm on the second day of polling.

The publication also reports that complete results will be out on Monday after discussions by the State Election Commission, and will be published int he country's Collection of Laws on Tuesday.

Expected winners

As per several opinion polls and polling aggregators, former PM Andrej Babis' ANO is expected to come to power in Cezch Republic. They are expected to have a lead of 10.5-11 seats ahead of their closest rivals, the SPOLU alliance.

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Babis, as per AFP, is a self-proclaimed 'Trumpist', and his re-election could see the country come closers to Hungary and Slovakia. Babis was critical of some policies of the European Union when he was prime minister, and is on good terms with Hungary's Viktor Orban and Slovakia's Robert Fico, who have maintained ties with Moscow despite its invasion of Ukraine.

Even if ANO tops the votes, it will have to rely on a coalition to maintain its majority in the lower house.

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