Prague 1 has a new coalition. The mayor of Čižinský was replaced by Petr Hejma from STAN – ČT24 – Czech Television
Catastrophic situation at the town hall, complains the group We, who live here
The group We Live Here terminated the coalition agreement last December due to a long-standing disagreement with Prague 1 to itself, the Pirates and the Green for the first time. The resignation cited, for example, disagreements in the case of privatization of flats, increase in rent or personnel situation at the office.
According to the then coalition partners, it is not possible to agree on the method of managing the operation of the office and the general attitude towards private ownership and business. “The situation at the town hall is catastrophic in our opinion, people want to leave. Unfortunately, the inexperience we knew about, but it still takes a year, “Hejma explained.
They are protected by their own voters and want to run City Hall professionally. “We tried to find a variant of cooperation on the current coalition format within the conciliation procedure, but unfortunately after almost two months of negotiations, this effort failed,” adds Hejma.
Martin Kotas resigned after the termination of the contract from the club We, What We Live Here. On the contrary, three representatives of TOP 09 joined it, so now the club has six representatives. The coalition ODS has five seats and YES two. Altogether, the new form has thirteen seats, which means a narrow majority in the 25-member council.
The return of the old order, Čižinský warned
The current mayor of the Čižinský district, who, together with the entire leadership, ended up after many hours of negotiations, said in December that he would do everything in his power to prevent the “return of old order”, ie to return prosecuted ODS and TOP representatives to Prague 1. 09.
According to Čižinský, they represent the worst that has happened in the past election periods and what the voters clearly stood up to in the last elections. Some opposition deputies remain prosecuted in connection with the sale of apartments in the previous election period. Like Čižinský, the Pirates also provide.
Čižinský refers to the eight-year tenure of Oldřich Lomecký (TOP 09) at the head of Prague 1. In July, the police accused almost forty people of selling lucrative city flats. According to the accusations, the deputies voted for the sale of the apartments below the price, which caused damage in the amount of approximately 40 million crowns.
Hejma: The criminal report is an instrument of political struggle
“I will personally guarantee that no old order will return, as our voters fear. The people who were connected with the bad one left during the year, “Hejma promises. Čižinský, however, supports the fact that people in the ranks of the ODS and TOP 09 still continue to have a serious conflict of interest.
“If some opposition parties blame Andrei Babis for being prosecuted and therefore cannot be prime minister, then the same parties in Prague 1 say that the prosecutors can go back to the council and this is not a problem,” says Čižinský.
Hejma protests against this. According to him, the criminal report becomes an instrument of political struggle. In the case of the sale of apartments, people are allegedly accused of voting in good faith. “I believe that almost forty people will be acquitted,” he added.
The whole dispute was provoked by the pirate councilor David Bodeček, who sent an open letter to the coalition partners criticizing the current cooperation and the functioning of the district office. According to Čižinský, however, he did not want to question the coalition, he only considered his own continuation in the council. But the group We live here have abused, the former mayor now says.
In addition to Hejma, the deputies also elected other members of the council to the mayor’s position late Tuesday evening. Petr Burgr (KDU-ČSL) was elected the first deputy mayor and Eva Špačková (ODS) as deputy mayor. Richard Bureš (ODS), Jan Votoček (TOP 09) and Karel Grabein Procházka (YES) became vacant councilors. Michal Caban (Citizens’ Initiative) is a relaxed councilor.
According to the coalition agreement, another place in a row belongs to TOP 09, it will be filled later. Deputy Martin Kotas unsuccessfully nominated Vladan Brož (Prague 1 to himself) as Hejma’s opponent.