PRAGUE — The two opposition alliances opposed to Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis won a parliamentary majority Saturday, according to preliminary results, raising the possibility that Babis may be forced out of office.

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       With almost all votes counted, the center-right opposition alliance was narrowly ahead of the party led by Babis, a billionaire tycoon and ally of Hungary’s far-right leader Viktor Orban. A separate opposition bloc took parliament seats and would push the anti-Babis factions into the majority.

       The Pandora Papers roared into the Czech elections in the final week, revealing that Babis allegedly used shell companies to purchase a $22 million French chateau in 2009.

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       “He definitely lost some voters because of this scandal,” said Jiri Pehe, director of New York University Prague. “I think the opposition alliances will be very united in their efforts to force Babis out.”

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       But the effort to remove Babis could become lengthy, and fraught with potential obstacles.

       The Czech president — a Babis ally — had previously suggested that he may still appoint Babis as prime minister, even if he does not hold a parliamentary majority.

       “In the next days, weeks, months, the key player will be president Zeman,” said Filip Kostelka, a political researcher at the University of Essex.

       Pandora Papers: How case flowed from the Dominican Republic to South Dakota

       The Pandora Papers — published by The Washington Post and other media outlets around the world — expose vast reaches of the secretive offshore system used to hide billions of dollars from tax authorities, creditors, criminal investigators and — in 14 cases involving current country leaders — citizens around the world.

       The revelations include more than $100 million spent by King Abdullah II of Jordan on luxury homes in Malibu, Calif., and other locations; millions of dollars in property and cash secretly owned by Babis and the leaders of four African nations; and a waterfront home in Monaco acquired by a Russian woman who gained considerable wealth after she reportedly had a child with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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       Babis was the first of 14 current country leaders named in the Pandora Papers to face a general election.

       His hopes to remain in office also rested on the performance of smaller parties that might be willing to support him, but those parties performed weaker than some had expected.

       The Pandora Papers were “another piece of the puzzle,” said Ivan Bartos, the head of the Czech Pirate Party, which would play a key role in a government formed by the two main opposition alliances.

       Speaking to The Post before the votes were fully counted, he warned that a second Babis term may lead to the “Orbanization” of the country and “probably steps that would somehow exclude us from the democratic Europe as we know it right now.”

       “That’s the path we don’t want to go through,” he said.

       Ladka Bauerova contributed to this report.

       Why The Post published the Pandora Papers

       The Pandora Papers, explained

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