The opposition in Prague 11 unsuccessfully tried to recall the mayor and deputy mayor
Prague 11 Town Hall is located in South Town. Photo: archive
At yesterday’s meeting of representatives of Prague 11, the opposition unsuccessfully tried to recall Mayor Jiří Dohnal (Pirates) and Deputy Mayor Jakub Lepš (TOP 09). Only ten or 11 of the 36 representatives present voted for the appeal. The appeal attempt was preceded by conjecture and personal invectives between the representatives, which started practically immediately after the meeting started at 10 o’clock yesterday.
The proposal for the dismissal of Dohnal and Lepš was proposed by opposition representative and serving senator Ladislav Kos senior (Movement for Prague 11) during a discussion on the functioning of city hall committees. In the case of Lepš, he justified his proposal by his undemocratic behavior and criticized Dohnal, among other things, that, according to him, he poorly manages the actions of the representatives. But he did not get enough votes to appeal.
Disputes between the coalition and the opposition, as well as between some opposition representatives, began shortly after the start of the meeting. The representatives argued, shouted at each other or shouted when they did not have the floor.
They often resorted to impertinence, when, among other things, it was Kos who rudely sent some representatives to the appropriate places after they had talked about another break. Opposition representative Robert Vašíček (We who live here) addressed one of his colleagues and declared that, in his opinion, she is not mentally fit to perform the post of representative.
The representatives also argued about the development of social services, when in the end they did not approve the material after a long argument. They often shouted at each other outside the microphone, and one of the coalition representatives called part of the opposition a bunch of jerks.
In Prague 11, representatives did not resort to vulgarisms for the first time. In May of this year, the opposition representatives of the Movement for Prague 11 (HPP11) demanded the resignation of deputy mayor Martin Sedeka (ODS) because of a vulgar statement addressed to Kos, to whom he said: “Shut up, you shit!”.
Sedeke later apologized and said on social media that his reaction was provoked by Kos shouting at him at the time, adding that he has already been defamed and insulted since the beginning of the 2018 election period when he became deputy mayor.
Pirates, ANO, ODS, TOP 09 and STAN rule the South City. There have been disputes between the coalition partners in the South City since the spring of 2021, and some political entities have subsequently stated that they no longer feel bound by the coalition agreement. The urban district, home to 77,600 inhabitants, includes, among other things, the cadastral territory of Chodov and Hájů.