Pekarová: A coalition with ANO is not a preferred option for us in Prague
“The fact that we are second somewhere does not mean that we will not be able to establish a government coalition,” the head of TOP 09 responded optimistically to the fact that she has a lot of knowledge from ANO in larger cities.
He also believes in solid gains in the senate second round. “I’m guessing about 15 mandates,” she estimated next week’s results. To make them the best, he is going to support the candidates in the field.
The Senate elections are almost counted, the ratio of forces advancing to the 2nd round is equal at the level of the government versus the opposition. How do you rate it?
We can evaluate the senate elections positively. We have 20 candidates out of 27 advancing to the second round, which is clearly a success. Now we need the strength to motivate voters to come in the second round as well and to get the maximum number of our candidates into the Senate.
Where will lie the line between success and failure? Half?
Much more than half, I am guessing that roughly 15 mandates could be won by our coalition parties.
The head of ANO, Andrej Babiš, stated that he will support candidate Jana Nagyová in the fight against Miloš Vystrčil before the 2nd round. Will you be out in the field supporting your candidates next week?
Certainly. But I will have a completely different motivation than the defendant Andrej Babiš, who supports his fellow party and co-defendant. He supports her for a simple reason – if Ms. Nagy were to succeed, she would gain immunity and the court proceedings in the Sparrow’s Nest case would be complicated. It was beautiful to see the last week when he lashed out at the other Senate candidates and primarily her.
Candidate Nagyová received over 30 percent of the vote, how do you interpret her result? Do you attribute it to the YES brand, or do you see it as a message from the voters to the governing parties?
How do I perceive it? Despite the media response and massive support from Mr. Babiš, I perceive a profit of 30 percent as not positive from her point of view.
Which senate candidates will you focus on supporting?
I will definitely support Mr. Naxer in Pilsen, Mr. Pirek, Ms. Marvanová, Mr. Růžička, Mr. Czernin in Jičín. I will try to support as many people as possible, as long as my time in the Parliament allows.
In larger cities and also in senate elections, STAN candidates were not very successful. Are you surprised by the impact of the Dosimeter case?
It seems to resonate. I was surprised by how strong a message voters gave to the STAN movement. I assumed that more STAN candidates would succeed in the senate elections.
Can you have a response in the government coalition?
I firmly believe not. Within the coalition, we perceive the enormous pressure that STAN and its chairman are under. I believe that despite this election result, this government coalition will continue the current pace of solving the problems that the Czech Republic is facing. For a long time, we have supported Vít Rakušan as Minister of the Interior, and nothing has changed even now. I am convinced that the results show that the coalition government parties enjoy a strong base in society.
A partial count of large regional cities shows that, with the exception of Prague, Brno, and České Budějovice, the ANO movement takes leading positions in larger cities. Isn’t that surprising to you?
Some cities are still adding up, in Pilsen it’s close. We expect that in some cities the results will be expected. But the largest cities of Prague and Brno will be authoritative, where we should maintain our lead. Great satisfaction for me. In addition, there will be more talks about a coalition, to put it mildly. The fact that we are second somewhere does not mean that we will not be able to establish a government coalition.
What recommendations do you have for the Prague representatives regarding the new government coalition? Cooperation with ANO, or rather on the ground plan of the government coalition and with the parties that criticized you in the campaign?
For myself, I prefer the creation of a coalition on the same plan as the government coalition. We are democratic parties in which the regional leadership has the main responsibility. We never cooperate with communists and SPD, I would add other extremist parties to that. YES is by no means a preferred option for us.
Elections in Prague
How did voters in the capital vote? You can find the results here.
Are the results a reflection on government policy for you? Do you take it as a certain message from the voters for how the government proceeded in solving the energy crisis?
We take the results of elections with humility, whether they are successful or unsuccessful elections. This time is difficult for the Czechia and the whole of Europe. A few kilometers from us, war is raging, all countries in the EU are negatively affected. The energy crisis affects the whole of Europe, it is a complex solution, especially considering that we don’t want to put the future generation in debt with crazy numbers. Within all these problems and crises, the government is doing very well.
The head of ANO Babiš continues to claim that the last election was a referendum on your government. What do you think about the results?
Mr. Babiš will definitely stay away from it. Even if we accept his logic, the results still speak in favor of the ruling parties. We succeeded significantly in the municipal elections.