Ondřej Konrád: Fiala has fulfilled it, but it is not enough for him
And they stayed with him – maybe a little out of necessity – still. After all, Fiala competed with other candidates for the last time in Olomouc at the time; he never had any opponent again.
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Which seemed precarious especially two years ago, when her party de facto sent into a direct clash with Andrej Babiš (YES). In which, however, “decent” Fiala, at the head of the three-party coalition, succeeded sensationally and so far in the executive position he is performing at least outwardly with dignity: without confrontation, but apparently holding his own president; And he earned an extraordinary bonus on a pioneering journey to shelled Kiev.
The weekend congress of the Civic Democrats was thus largely in purple. Including the smooth leadership of maintaining the current narrower party, from which the head of the Senate Miloš Vystrčil (perhaps squinting over the presidential candidacy) resigned himself and was also replaced by the experienced, experienced Prague politician Zdeněk Zajíček.
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But not that it’s just a celebration. Already a five-time chairman about it, for example, the chairman in the main paper, what is to be remembered: that many voters also turned to the ODS as the “least evil” and as if to test whether the party really got rid of its past. Fiala wants to prove it and win the next election. Which will be difficult but not impossible despite the coming stormy period. Unless, of course, old habits from the past really smoke under the surface.
And if so, unless Fiala definitely chokes them. It was, of course, about Russian aggression, about security and the economy, ie NATO and the EU, about the end of dependence on Russian gas, about the need for significantly higher activity in foreign policy and so on. There was also a relatively sharp condemnation of the opposition, according to Fiala, again purposefully dividing society through the effects of the war in Ukraine. They literally “do what they do best: invent and spread misinformation.”
Candidate for parties and people
And it must be clear to Fial that this will intensify with the upcoming municipal and especially presidential elections. He doesn’t have a candidate for those ODS yet, or he’s hacking him. So rather the first. Especially when a number of interviews during the congress provided by the media, not only Fiala, indirectly indicated that the party could also imagine support for someone neutral. At least the subjects of the three-party coalition and preferably the entire five-party coalition would agree on that. And who would be acceptable especially to the general public.
As athletes say on television: for sure. It is a plebiscite in which the parties have a role, but not about anything. After all, Miloš Zeman won twice on his own. The second time, however, is because Tomio Okamura, or the YES movement candidate, did not take his votes in the first round. There are many ways to influence your choice. And the current governing party needs to succeed in it. And, as Fiala said years ago, be in trouble.
The author is a commentator for Czech Radio