Betyna is a dog that belongs to Babiš’ right-hand man and ANO Vice Chair Karel Havlíček, who called the scandal unacceptable and said “it affects” him “all the more” as he is “a big fan of dogs.”

The Balaštíková story contains faint echoes of the 2024 confession of Kristi Noem, now the U.S. secretary of homeland security, that she had once shot dead a misbehaving dog. The admission sparked a major backlash in the country.

The publicity maneuvers are an integral part of Babiš’ PR, according to Otto Eibl, a political scientist at Masaryk University in Brno.

“Babiš regularly surrounds himself with animals; it’s nothing new for him, nothing suddenly staged ‘for effect.’ Of course, it can also serve as damage control, but it doesn’t feel forced—there’s authenticity in it,” Eibl said, adding that animals are an important part of politics as they humanize politicians.

“It would be different if voters didn’t like those particular animals. In that case, they wouldn’t play such a role and politicians wouldn’t show them. But Czechs are a nation of dog and cat lovers, so it makes sense to show and use animals,” he added.

The Civic Democratic Party (ODS), headed by current Prime Minister Petr Fiala and part of the Spolu coalition, used the dog-killing plot as an opportunity to attack Babiš and his party.

“Will your dogs be safe … if ANO comes to power?” ODS asked darkly in one social media post.

But Babiš will likely remain confident ahead of October’s vote, having escaped Houdini-like from far bigger scandals such as allegations of kidnapping his own son and an ongoing €2 million EU subsidy fraud saga.

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