With this campaign strategy, Babis appears to be following the example of Milos Zeman in 2018. Photo credit: vlada.cz.
Prague, Nov 25 (CTK) – Senior opposition ANO leader and presidential candidate Andrej Babis will not attend any of the presidential candidate debates until the end of this year, and has not yet decided his strategy for January with his team, he told CTK today.
Babis added that he would continue attending debates with the citizens. “So, whoever wants to hold a debate with me, I will be glad to see them,” he said.
With this campaign strategy, Babis appears to be following the example of Milos Zeman, who as a candidate in 2018 avoided all debates until the second round, in order to present himself as the clear front-runner in the eyes of voters.
Today, the former prime minister will visit Napajedla and Luhacovice, in the Zlin region. He will visit Stribro in the Plzen region and Mlada Boleslav in Central Bohemia next week.
Babis will attend neither the TV debates, nor other events such as the online debate with schoolchildren and students on 1 December, from which he excused himself for work reasons.
He is also the only one of the leading presidential candidates not yet to have confirmed his participation in the January “super-debate” held by Czech Television.
On Monday, the public broadcaster offered to hold a joint national presidential debate with the Nova and Prima TV channels, with common dramaturgy and hosts from all three. Both private channels rejected the plan over differences in the concepts of the debates and approaches to dramaturgy.
