Prague 11: Moving within the limits of possibilities. Clarification of coalitions still in sight
photo: Jakub Mračno, PrahaIN.cz/South City
Similar to other Prague districts, the post-election distribution in the Southern Town, i.e. in the Prague 11 Municipal Council, is so close that one can only speculate about the future government in the district. This follows at least from the statements of the negotiating teams across the political spectrum. However, they speak of at least a slight shift.
Although “all directions” are still being discussed, a concrete coalition that would not only be theoretical is not on the horizon. Nevertheless, we were the first to approach the local Pirates, because it is their club that is acting on the platform of two possible coalitions, which they have bigger than the others.
Two forms of coalition
“We have had two meetings this week, one on the floor plan of the original composition of the current municipal district council and the other, where we would be together with the Movement for Prague 11 and Prague 11 ourselves,” confirmed PrahaIN.cz the outgoing mayor of the Southern Town, Jiří Dohnal, who is at the same time one of the negotiators for the Pirate Party.
So what has changed? According to Dohnal, this is a shift in the limits of possibilities, in both cases of mutual negotiations. “On the platform of the existing coalition, after Wednesday’s meeting we set ourselves the task of thinking through the priority, the next meeting awaits us in a week. But we got closer to the possible distribution of forces in the district council. In the case of this coalition, the ANO movement would get three seats and the post of mayor, ODS two seats and the same number of clubs TOP 09 and STAN, as well as us,” explained Dohnal.
With ANO, yes, but without Prokop
According to him, however, the Pirates are the only ones who still have to be approved by the local party cell for possible cooperation, which has not yet officially happened. Nevertheless, Dohnal sees a shift and the possibility to start working on the specific outlines of the coalition agreement.
According to information from PrahaIN.cz, however, there is a condition that the leader of the ANO movement Ondřej Prokop does not sit on the municipal council. The Pirates and TOP 09 with the Mayors are behind it. ODS, on the other hand, is willing to support Prokop even for the post of mayor, which he himself is striving for based on the high electoral gain of ANO.
Rookie concession to the Pirates
The current mayor commented less on the situation in the negotiations with the winning Movement for Prague 11 and the newcomer to the Prague 11 elections (P11S). “Still in the game, however, they haven’t gotten to the specific personnel yet, but we are also happy that we are also always about the possible composition, with four seats belonging to the winners, i.e. HPP 11, three sla would be occupied by us and two by Praha 11,” with I caught up with the fact that this policy is also awaiting further negotiations next week.
In this regard, the disproportion between the number of seats in the district council and the election results in the case of Pirates and Prague 11 is interesting. “This is a concession from our side, we realize that everyone must compromise on their demands if we want to reach a coalition agreement on this plan. And that’s what we want, a coalition with HPP 11 and the Pirates are a priority for us and a goal that we are slowly moving towards,” said leader Jan Jaroš when asked by PrahaIN.cz P11S.
According to him, the negotiations are otherwise going well and the political partners are approaching a discussion on the distribution of specific tasks.
The Movement for Prague 11 itself, which has already won the elections several times, does not yet comment on the results of the negotiations, but it has nevertheless published data on individual steps in the post-election negotiations on social networks. It currently ends on October 9, when, according to HPP 11, “the wider leadership” of the victorious movement “acted”.