Pyrh’s victory Movement for Prague 11. Either the government with the Pirates, or the opposition
photo: Jakub Mračno, PrahaIN.cz/The number one candidate of the Movement for Prague 11 does not have an easy decision to make.
ANALYSIS The post-election negotiations in Jižní Město started on election night. And they continue quite intensively even now in the first days after the votes have been counted. And although the local Pirates have no reason to celebrate with regard to the victory in the elections, they may be the ones who decide the future direction of Prague 11.
The winner of the elections in Jižní Město, today we can say that it is traditional, was the Movement for Prague 11 (HPP11). Third time in a row. Even so, I can, just like after winning the elections in 2018, end up in the opposition for the next four years. However, the same fate may also befall the ANO movement, which this year showed a real push for the goal and can rejoice at a ten percent increase compared to the last municipal election.
The numbers speak only of the close leadership of HPP11 with a “stylish” eleven mandates compared to the “jumper of the year” in the form of the ANO movement with ten seats in the new Prague 11 council. who are apparently fighting over the rule of the South City.
YES, he can celebrate, but he has no certainty
The leader of the ANO movement in Jižní Město, Ondřej Prokop, had reason to celebrate. “We are extremely satisfied with the result, we received ten percent more votes than last election period, for which I want to thank the voters, we gave a really strong mandate. We appreciate it very much,” he commented on the success for PrahaIN.cz.
Ondřej Prokop (right) has a reputation as a skilled negotiator.
He did not want to speculate about the possible distribution of forces in the council in the upcoming election period. “I have already contacted all the elected parties, but I have to say that I was very disappointed by the attitude of the winner – Movement for Prague 11. I wrote to the chairperson Šárka Zdeňková already on the night when the results were clear, and in the following days, but she completely ignored us. I am surprised that the movement does not want to negotiate with the second in line, while before the elections they announce that they want a strong and stable coalition in Jižní Město. Mrs. Zdeňková did not even politely refuse the negotiations, which Praha 11 has done for herself for the time being, and I fully respect that,” commented Prokop when asked by PrahaIN.cz about the atmosphere in which the first post-election negotiations are taking place.
Pirates on the scales
But in this seemingly banal statement, we can read very important indications that indicate where the behind-the-scenes negotiations could be headed. The electoral mathematics is relatively simple. Let’s start from the beginning. Since the deputies in Prague 11 voted, perhaps somewhat, to reduce the number of deputies to 35 in the following period, the closest possible majority in the council is 18 seats.
This means that with the animosity between the YES movement and HPP 11, there are actually only two possible scenarios. One variant counts on eighteen votes for the winner, but to achieve the achievement they need an agreement with the club Praha 11 themselves, where it can be said that there is an interplay in terms of people and programs. Those with a profit of over ten percent with four mandates recorded a rather surprising and better result than the ODS and the candidates. So we have fifteen mandates. And the decision is made by three seats of the Pirates, one of which also belongs to the current mayor Jiří Dohnal, who, of course, faces criticism from all sides.
Jiří Dohnal (right) at the start of the pirate campaign in Café Vítkov.
Or from the other side. The highly successful ANO movement has the opportunity to revive the old “coalition of everyone against HPP 11”, which worked for some time in the past election period. But they are not very cheerful numbers either. ANO has ten seats, ODS (Together for Prague 11) four, the STAN movement together with TOP 09 another three. That’s seventeen in total and that’s not enough. And the three chairs of the “unsuccessful” Pirates decide again.
YES counts with everything
According to Ondřej Prokop, the YES movement is ready to negotiate with everyone and is preparing for all scenarios. “We are not primarily concerned with positions, I can imagine that we will also be in the opposition, but our main goal is to cultivate politics so that peace reigns in Prague 11 and to promote as much of our program as possible in terms of content. We primarily want to solve the sad situation regarding parking, improve the situation in education and take care of people in the current crisis, which especially concerns the elderly and other vulnerable groups.
Martin Sedeke was also a representative of the capital.
Also, the leader of “Odéeska” Martin Sedek talks about negotiations with all entities that “got in”. Just two months ago, I was hoping for a better result, I was hoping for a profit of around fifteen percent, but I still consider it a success, because we kept the same score as in the last period,” he replied to PrahaIN.cz’s question of the Společné pro Praha 11 candidate, the current Deputy Mayor Martin Sedeke.
Jižák like Ostrava
“We are a city of 70,000 people, so it is not humanly possible to knock on every door in quotation marks. Despite this, I consider our mandate to be strong, but of course the post-election negotiations will decide. I have already contacted all successful political parties by phone, but sharp negotiations await us only in these days,” he told the editors. According to him, the social composition of the electorate in Prague 11 is similar to, for example, Ostrava, and it is therefore possible to consider the gain through percentage negotiations as good for the ODS policy.
With the Pirates or in the opposition?
According to information from PrahaIN.cz, one important, or better said, key piece of information is currently being discussed, but it has already been dropped. “Of course, I’m happy with the electoral success, but as always, it’s Pyrh’s victory, if we don’t screw up and cooperate with someone from the old set, which I don’t propose, there’s only one option,” admitted Šárka Zdeňková, chairperson of HPP 11, when asked by PrahaIN.cz she led the winning movement’s candidate to the elections.
“We are closest to Prague 11 in terms of programs and people, we can imagine cooperation with them. But we are realistically looking at the possibilities of contacting the local Pirates,” she finally confirmed. If it “worked”, the Movement for Prague 11 would be in opposition after years with a narrow majority in the leadership of Prague 11.
Father’s Wish Thoughts?
However, it is still too early for definitive judgments, after all, even the Pirates, who thanks to the close results received an imaginary “wild card” into the tournament for the rule of the South City, but have not yet made a clear statement.
This is also confirmed by Martin Sedeka’s statement to PrahaIN.cz in the evening. When asked by the editors, he confirmed that representatives of the HPP 11 ODS were not discussed, unlike the Pirates, ANO and TOP-STAN. “It may just be my impression, but I don’t feel from this action that there was any agreement with HPP 11 on the part of the Pirates or others. After all, it could also be as my grandmother used to say, that wish becomes the father of thought, ” added the candidates Together for Prague 11.