PRAGUE — A political group led by Prime Minister Andrej Babiš was leading Saturday in the Czech Republic’s first round of voting to fill one-third of the seats in Parliament’s upper house, the Senate.

With votes from more than 93% of polling stations counted, the centrist ANO (YES) movement led of the populist billionaire could have the most candidates, 13, advancing to next week’s runoffs.

ANO hopes to make gains in the 81-seat Senate, which is controlled by pro-Western opposition parties. Twenty-seven Senate seats are up for grabs.

Up to six candidates could reach the 50% threshold to win seats outright, none of them from ANO, according to the preliminary results released by the Czech Statistics Office. That could leave 21 seats to be decided in the runoffs between the top two finishers in each race.

Parliament’s lower house dominates the legislative process, but the Senate plays an important role in passing constitutional amendments and approving Constitutional Court judges.

In separate local elections, various independent candidates and groupings appeared to be winning most seats nationwide, a traditional result. ANO was heading for victory in some regional capitals, but not in Prague.

The elections are the first test for Babiš since he returned to power after a decisive victory in parliamentary elections in October 2025.

Babiš has formed a governing coalition with two small political groups whose agenda includes reducing support for Ukraine and rejecting some key European Union policies.