Whoever won will have the mayor, says the ODS in Prague. Premature, say the Pirates
The parties do not agree on personnel.
It bothers the Pirates that they could use representative Jan Wolf (KDU-ČSL) in the Prague City Council, who is facing indictment due to alleged manipulation of sports subsidies.
According to the representatives of Spolu, i.e. ODS, KDU-ČSL and TOP 09, the request only blocks the further development of negotiations.
“It’s not about one candidate, it’s not about Jan Wolf,” Jiří Pospíšil from TOP 09 said after the meeting. responsibility to the voters to choose the best candidates, or if those candidates should be – in quotes – chosen by a Pirates referendum. I think we have that right,” he added.
On Thursday, a proposal was made for Wolf to head one of the representative committees instead of the position of councilor – until now he was the chairman of the cultural one. Together, however, he insists that he wants to nominate representatives to the council that he himself deems appropriate.
The two sides parted ways, saying they would call each other on Monday to discuss further developments. Until then, politicians should discuss the situation within the party. “The proposal was to take our time. So that they too will think about whether Mr. Wolf is really so irreplaceable for them,” declared the head of the Prague Pirates and current mayor Zdeněk Hřib.
Who will occupy the mayor’s seat?
This time there was also a debate about the post of mayor. “The pirates insist on their position, which also calls into question the fact that the winner of the election should fill the post of mayor,” said Bohuslav Svoboda (ODS), who was a Spolu candidate for the post of head of the municipality in the elections.
“Today, we wanted to answer whether potential coalition partners respect the general principle that the person who won the election takes the position of mayor,” added Zdeněk Zajíček, head of Prague’s ODS.
However, the pirates do not yet want to accept who would fill which position in the city council. “It is necessary to agree on a specific floor plan of a potential coalition and the division of responsibilities in the council together with future coalition partners, if such a situation arises. And we believe that it is,” said the number two pirate candidate Jana Komrsková.
Svoboda already said on Monday that negotiations are “very difficult”.
On Thursday, he criticized the internal party politics of the Pirates. According to her, the pirate regional forum would also have to be approved as a possible coalition with Spolu, which is why the conclusions of the existing ones are not firm.
“We want to have some degree of certainty that if the concept of governance in Prague is agreed after a few weeks, which is a very fundamental thing, then there is a chance that the concept will be governed. That it will not be dropped based on the decision of the Pirates by some two or three votes of the membership base,” Jiří Pospíšil let himself be heard.
Take Prague to yourself?
The possibility of adding Praha Sobě to the coalition was also discussed. In addition to the Pirates, another likely coalition partner, the STAN movement, would also agree with this. Together, however, they vehemently reject this possibility, because they would have a minority in the resulting coalition.
Spolu won the most seats in the 65-member Prague council, with a total of 19. ANO came in second with 14, followed by the Pirates with 13 seats. The local political group Praha Sobě won 11 representatives, the STAN movement a total of 5. The SPD also got into the capital city council for the first time, winning three mandates.
It is still not clear whether a government based on a coalition of five will eventually be formed in the capital, but both sides claim that they have the will to continue negotiations. “Although the attacks on us are not political, but mainly personal, we overcome all this and move on,” said Bohuslav Svoboda.
In the near future, representatives of Spolu also have another negotiation with ANO, which finished in second place in the municipal elections in Prague. They praised Monday’s meeting.
- See the results of the municipal elections by region. After clicking on the region, you can choose a specific district.