The votes are in for the 2021 Czech legislative election

The 2021 Czech legislative election to the Chamber of Deputies has ended as of 2:00 p.m. this afternoon. Votes will now be counted by election officials and published on the official election website by the Czech Statistical Office; a final tally is expected later this evening.

Candidates from from 22 parties and movements, including incumbent Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, ran for office in the Czech Republic's lower house.

According to the latest polls, seven parties have a good chance of entering the Chamber of Deputies, and another three were around the 5-percent threshold needed to enter the house.

The role of the favorite is played by the ANO party, led by Babiš. Various polls in the weeks leading up to the election gave the party at least one-quarter of the votes.

ANO was followed by the alliance SPOLU (Together), comprised of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), the Christian Democrats (KDU-ČSL), and TOP 09. Polling closely behind in third place was a coalition made up of the Pirates and Mayors and Independents (STAN).

The anti-EU Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) party is also expected to cross the five-percent threshold with some certainty.

The Communist (KSČM) and Social Democrat (ČSSD) parties, as well as the new party Oath, have also reached around 5 percent of voters according to the latest polls.

ANO is defending 78 seats in the 200-member lower house. Their current government is held together by a coalition with the KSČM and ČSSD parties, both of which hold 15 seats to put the ruling government over a necessary fifty-percent threshold.

ODS is defending 25 seats, the Pirates 22, KDU-ČSL 10, TOP 09 7, and STAN 6 seats, totaling 70 between them. SPD defends the remaining 22 seats.

According to early estimates, the number of voters might be higher than the 61 percent turnout seen in the previous election four years ago.