Prague to itself: Pirates will not go TOGETHER, they are principled like us
photo: Jakub Mračno, PrahaIN.cz/Jan Čižinský, mayor of Prague 7 and leader of the Prague to itself movement.
POLITICIANS IN THEIR OWN WORDS Political organization Prague on its Facebook page on October 10 for post-election negotiations
Post-election negotiations report number 3
Today we are very happy: we are not the only ones who keep the promises and principles of decent politics in Prague even after the elections. The pirates have just announced definitively that they refuse to run the capital with people from TOGETHER who are being dragged along by various scumbags.
The TOGETHER coalition talks about “setting conditions”. But politics is not just cynical mathematics, but also an obligation to make decisions according to conscience and to observe the basic rules of political culture. No one from the TOGETHER coalition takes the liberty of nominating criminally prosecuted and suspect politicians to positions. In the same way, the other side cannot have the right to refuse to cooperate with such people.
After all, how did we defend to ourselves that we would offer positions in the coalition, and therefore influence on the city, to Jiří Pospíšil, whose long-time advisor Fremr laughed with the gang in the Dozimetr case, how can one brilliantly rob Prague? And he allegedly even “cashiered” the shares? Or to Jan Wolf, who will go to court over a vote on dubious sports subsidies? We are not saying whether he is guilty or not. But it is political decency to leave the decision to the courts and not to undermine people’s trust in politics.
The very fact that the politicians of the same parties, which today form TOGETHER, locked decency in a drawer, once gave birth to Andrej Babiš. Today, its continuation strengthens the same. It’s not just about Prague. Look, for example, at the recent arrests and investigations of people from the ODS in Brno for machinations with city apartments. By the way, we ended exactly the same mess with apartments in Prague 7 and at the municipality. A million moments did not fill the Letnská plain just because of the investigated Andrej Babiš, but because of the observance of the principles of political decency. The country, regions and cities should be managed by people who are not suspected of conflict of interests or directly linked to criminal structures.
Prime Minister Petr Fiala and the leaders of TOP09 and KDU-ČSL promised us a decent policy. If they were serious, they should start cleaning up their Prague organizations. Thanks to the behavior of their Prague cells, Czech democratic politics is under threat. In the capital, where populists and extremists had no chance until recently, they are gaining strength. In the new national survey for the parliamentary elections, the ANO and SPD movements have a combined 41 percent.
After all, Prague residents made it clear in the elections what they think of the SPOLU candidate. Three national parties and tens of millions and a huge marketing team received only 24.72 percent of the vote. Separately, some would not even get into the council. Their leader did not succeed – in the system of municipal elections it is very difficult to cross the leaders of female candidates – and yet Bohuslav Svoboda finished only fifth. Tens of thousands of voters TOGETHER had to actively not vote for him. That’s not a victory.
On the other hand, the modern, decent liberal politics of one national party (Pirates) and one local association, on which all the slander and disinformation websites in Prague were concentrated before the elections, received almost 32 and a half percent of the votes from the people of Prague. Let’s add the STAN movement to this – because people handed them tickets to the ballot box with confidence in pre-election promises to continue the current coalition. And we are at 40.20%. Can you feel the difference? On one side 40.20 percent, on the other 24.72 percent. Even if the TOGETHER coalition is trying to convince us of a repeat by repeating the mantra of your victory, the people of Prague have chosen a completely different future than its return to the old days.
How can the situation develop now?
Even if an offer from SPOLU lands on our table now (which we doubt), we do not want to negotiate a coalition of SPOLU+STAN+PRAGUE TOGETHER. The only hope for Prague is that the Pirates and I don’t deviate from our principles and trip each other up.
As we once wrote: if the SPOLU coalition is considering a connection with the ANO movement, i.e. with people like StB agent Mrs. Kleslová, the Prague cells of ODS, TOP09 and KDU-ČSL are of no help. Every single representative who raises his hand for such a coalition will bear the responsibility before his conscience and before the voters. And we will not give in to my blackmail with such evil.
The politics of the current coalition received clear confidence from the people of Prague in the elections. Even without Jiří Pospíšil, the Pirates, PRAHA SOBĚ, the STAN movement and representatives of TOP09 would once again form a majority led by people we need not be ashamed of. When the new council votes for the first time, everyone will have a simple choice of what to raise their hand for. Either for what the people of Prague want, or for what his Prague party cells order him to do. We do not believe that all representatives elected for SPOLA will add their signatures next to the signature of StB employee Kleslova and thus legitimize Andrej Babiš. Let’s hope some choose a modern and decent future, not a dark past flavored with StB.
PRAGUE TO YOURSELF team