Who will lead the town halls of the Prague districts? Part I: Large urban districts of Prague 1 – 10
photo: PrahaIN.cz infographic/The capital city of Prague consists of 57 city districts.
A month after the municipal elections, it is already clear in many Prague town halls who will win the current election period. However, this still does not apply to all city districts, in some places due to waiting for the court’s decision, in others because the politicians have not yet finally agreed on the form of the coalition. In the first part of the series, PrahaIN.cz provides an overview of all the so-called large city districts, i.e. the administrative districts of Prague 1 – 10.
At the outset, it is necessary to say how the perception of the post-election situation is the law. For the period after the end of the elections, it sets the date when representatives must meet at the constitutive meeting of the council, i.e. at the first post-election meeting. The acting mayor of that district has to convene this within fifteen days from the confirmation of the election results.
However, this is postponed in the event that the election results are challenged by one of the election entities within the due date. Then the court decides on the result, and the fifteen-day deadline for convening the constituent meeting is counted from the moment of the court’s final decision. In some cases, this is more of a formality that confirms the result of the elections, but in some cases they can also mean an additional change in the distribution of mandates, and thus also the coalition potential of political subjects elected to the council.
Prague 1 is waiting for the verdict
This also applies in the first district, where it is not yet clear. Although there are several variants of the post-election arrangement in play, the decision of the court, where two subjects challenged the election, is awaited. At the moment, both the serving mayor Petr Hejma (STAN) and the other elected entities are negotiating. The upcoming coalition formed by ODS, TOP 09, Piráti, Naše Praha 1 and Rezidenti 1 has a great chance to control Prague 1.
However, the Pirates are also considering the option of cooperation with the winning Praha 1 itself, TOP 09 and Residents 1. The STAN of the current mayor Hejma (elected for the coalition We live here consisting of STAN, KDU-ČSL and the Citizens’ Initiative) also has its interests – note . aut.), who would like to continue the existing coalition with ODS, KDU-ČSL and the ANO movement. According to the findings of PrahaIN.cz, it is not yet clear who will manage to form a coalition and obtain an over-half majority in the council.
Prague 2 continues with the same composition
This was clear in Prague 2 immediately after the elections. “Given the fact that we haven’t had any problems in the past four years, we cooperated well and the results of the elections made it possible, we decided to continue with the same composition in the future,” the “old” mayor of Prague 2, Alexandra, confirmed to PrahaIN.cz Uzheniya (ODS). The winning candidate Společné pro Praha 2 (ODS and TOP 09) formed a coalition with the ANO movement, while the Pirates, Praha 2 sebe, STAN and SPD joined the opposition. The new municipal district council is already working, it was elected on October 17 at the founding meeting of ZMČ Prague 2.
Prague 3 devised a postponement
It is not yet clear in Prague 3, so it is necessary to continue negotiating. There are still a number of possible variants in the game, and according to information from PrahaIN.cz, it is still not clear even in some key clubs. While the Greens strive for a coalition on the layout of the existing one (Greens, TOP 09, STAN and Piráti) with the acquisition of Prague 3, as the leader of the SZ in Prague 3 Matěj Michalk Žaloudek confirmed to the editors, the STAN movement club is not clear at this moment. “For now, everything is open, even within our club, different members lean towards different options. It would be irresponsible to comment further now,” confirmed PrahaIN.cz the leader of STAN in Prague 3, Michal Vronský.
And since there was no challenge to the elections in court, the representatives had to meet yesterday, despite the absence of an agreement, when the deadline was according to the law. “Most likely, the meeting will be interrupted and convened at an alternative date according to the law, i.e. November 8. This will give us some extra time so that we can conduct political negotiations,” the leader of the Green Party of Žaloudek confirmed to PrahaIN.cz before the meeting of representatives. And his words came true in the early evening. All 34 representatives present voted to suspend the meeting.
The mayor of the “four” will be Ondřej Kubín
Prague 4 offers another option for the post-election situation. The coalition is assembled here safely through a trio of submissions that are resolved by the court in connection with the election results. The town hall should be controlled by a narrow majority of the coalition Společne – ODS and TOP 09 and the ANO movement, which together have 23 votes out of 45. According to the coalition agreement, Ondřej Kubín (ODS) should be the mayor, and the current mayor Irena Michalcová (ANO) should be his first deputy mayor. . Pirates are third in the order of election results, Praha 4 itself is fourth and the dual coalition of STAN and KDU-ČSL is heading to the opposition. According to PrahaIN.cz, according to the court’s decision, the narrow majority of the agreed coalition should not have been affected, and it can be expected that the above applies. According to Prague 4 spokesman Jiří Bigas, the constituent assembly should meet around mid-November.
Prague 5 is waiting and the tables can turn
The post-election situation in Prague 5 is very complicated. Here, too, the court’s decision is awaited, and unlike other city districts, the verdict here can literally turn everything upside down. At the moment, with reservations, negotiations on the so-called variant 21, i.e. the twenty-one votes of the winning coalition of Praha 5 themselves, Pirátů and SEN 21, are on the right track. thus returned to the fight for the introduction of the government, which today escapes by only one vote. The Pirates may lose it in favor of the ODS, which would mean the end of the ambition of the aforementioned coalition. The court should make a decision by the end of this week, until then none of the parties wants to comment further.
Prague 6: The first attempt did not work
The new coalition in Prague 6 found out “first hand” that a large majority of a single vote can be a problem. The winning coalition of the ODS and KDU-ČSL together with the STAN movement and Prague 6 was formed here, and the new leadership was supposed to be elected last Friday . But that did not work out, because one of the STAN representatives, Professor Jan Konvalinka, was absent, and the representatives did not meet until Monday. Currently, the election of mayor Jakub Stárek (ODS) has been confirmed, and the elections of other vacant members of the city council continue. Everything is going according to plan. The opposition, which now includes former mayor Ondřej Kolář’s TOP 09, the Pirates, the ANO movement and the joint candidate of the Tricolor and the SPD, nevertheless did not miss the opportunity to criticize the newly formed coalition.
Prague 7: City hall of one party
At the Prague 7 town hall, the victorious Prague 7 will govern itself in the following election period. The movement of the old new mayor of Prague 7, Jan Čižínský (Praha sebo), again won a majority here, namely fifty-three percent and 18 mandates. This is enough for a majority in the council, which has 29 seats. Despite the unique result, Prague offered itself in Prague 7 in cooperation and participation in the council to the Pirates, who, however, refused. As an opposition party, they will be able to use the leadership of the control committee.
The opposition will also include Together – ODS and TOP 09, which came second in the election results, and the ANO movement, which finished third. Here, too, the decision of the court was awaited, which had already rejected the claim on the result of one of the precincts. However, the date of the constitutive meeting of the council is not yet clear. On the other hand, it is clear, at least according to the election information of PrahaIN.cz, that Jan Čižinský, who took the seat of the head of Prague 7 for the first time in 2014, will once again defend the contribution of the mayor.
Prague 8 has a coalition and this time a majority
The new management of Prague 8 should be elected already on November 2, when the constitutive meeting of the council is scheduled. This should again be led by Ondřej Gros (ODS) from the position of mayor together with the new coalition partners from TOP 09, the ANO movement and the Patriots. Unlike a number of city districts, and the difference of the past election period, when a minority coalition with the support of the ANO movement ruled in Prague 8, the current coalition would have a fixed mandate and a majority of 27 votes out of 45. Given that the coalition agreement has already been signed, a smooth course of the meeting can be expected. The opposition in this election period will be the Pirates, the coalition Osmička lives with Praha seba and the coalition SPD and Trikolora.
Negotiations are still ongoing in Prague 9
In the ninth city district, the coalition Together for the Nine (ODS and TOP 09) won overwhelmingly in the elections, which has 15 mandates out of 33. Although the constituent assembly has a strict week to sit, it has not yet concluded a coalition agreement. “We negotiated with the Pirates and it didn’t work out, we are currently negotiating with Prague itself and STAN,” Prague 9 mayor Tomáš Portlík (ODS) told PrahaIN.cz, adding that the agreement is about to fall through, but as a superstitious person in this regard, he doesn’t want to shout anything. If a coalition can be built on this platform, it will have a comfortable majority of 21 votes in the thirty-three-member council with 15 votes for Together for the Nine, 4 votes for Prague, 8 for itself and two votes for Our Nine (STAN). According to PrahaIN.cz, the post of mayor was to be defended by the winning candidate Portlík.
The leadership of Prague 10 is being deposed, the coup plotters are heading to the opposition
The coalition agreement in Prague 10 was signed last week by ODS and TOP 09 (Together for Prague 10) and the coalition VLASTA, STAN and KDU-ČSL. Based on it, Martin Valovič from the ODS should become the mayor of the city district, and David Kašpar, who was deposed before the elections together with the then mayor Renata Chmelová, is returning to the council as a representative of the STAN. This was not confirmed and the initiators of the town hall coup from among the Pirates ended up in the opposition together with the ANO movement and the SPD, Trikolora and NK coalition. The post-election negotiations in Prague 10 were also marked by the case of “defectors” Jaroslav Štěpánek and his daughter Tereza Hauffenová, who left the ANO club for which they were elected after the elections and joined the ODS. In fact, the coalition won two more votes and can now rule comfortably with a majority of 26 votes out of 45. There has not yet been a deadline for the tiresome meeting of the representatives.
Tomorrow we will bring an overview of the situation in the districts of Prague 11 – 22