Svoboda could rule Prague with the old council. Untraditional, but not illegal, says Pospíšil — ČT24 — Czech Television
“With the election of a new mayor, the exercise of authority of the current mayor and his deputies ceases. If the new council of the capital city of Prague is not elected as a whole, all 11 members, then the current council in its original composition will exercise its authority,” reads the statement of the ministry, which was requested by the municipality.
According to the document, the new mayor will not become a member of the council, and at the same time the current mayor Hřib and his deputies would become ordinary members of the council. The newly elected mayor will become a member of the council, but will have all the legal powers of the mayor with voting at council meetings. “So the new mayor would primarily call council meetings and sign the minutes of its meetings,” the material says.
On Wednesday together with the YES movement, representatives of SPOLU announced that ANO will support the election of Svoboda as mayor of Prague. On Sunday, both parties began to discuss a possible partnership with the minority councils TOGETHER from the YES party. Too 15 program points that contain support supports. The parties have not yet agreed on the final wording of these points, so their representatives decided to elect only the mayor.
In his candidacy speech, Svoboda stated that the biggest problems in Prague include energy, transport and the lack of places in schools. According to him, it is essential to minimize threats related to energy, complete road circuits and find new spaces for teaching, especially for high school students. He also mentioned the fight against corruption.
Svoboda stated on the ČT24 broadcast that the city management should first and foremost work for the people of Prague. “For it to continue to be a historic city that is culturally up to the mark, that has a pleasant environment in which to live and work well,” he described the main idea of his idea of managing Prague.
The pirates want to go to court
The Prague Pirates informed that they are ready to challenge in court the eventual election of Svoboda as mayor, when the serving councilors would also remain in office. According to them, the choice would be in conflict with the law on the capital city in that Svoboda would be the mayor, but not a member of the council, said Viktor Mahrik, deputy chairman of the Pirates representatives.
“The contradiction with the law on the capital city of Prague is that the council of the capital city of Prague should have 11 members and the mayor and his deputies are members of the council. This is mentioned several times in the law. The situation that is approaching now will result in the mayor being out of council. The council will still have 11 members plus there will be a mayor who will stand outside the council,” Mahrik said. According to him, the court should also consider the conclusion of the Ministry of the Interior, which stated that this procedure is in order.
At the same time, the pirates want to wait for the expression of the leader of TOGETHER, how he imagines his functioning in the council. Svoboda has not yet commented on the election at the meeting. According to Mahrik, the pirates will at the same time consider how to react to his possible actions as mayor, which they believe can be challenged at the Supreme Administrative Court.
Hřib speaks of a “legal quandary”. According to Svoboda, “everyone is a lawyer”
“It is written in the law that the mayor is a member of the council,” said Hřib. According to him, the ODS is coming up with a “legal mess that has never been here before” after the failure of negotiations. “With simple common sense, something doesn’t fit there, but that’s more a question for the lawyers to interpret,” he said.
According to Hřiba, the TOTAL offer was unbalanced. “Investment governor, super deputy, actually tunnelled the responsibility of other councilors. They would just be maintenance workers like that,” he said. According to him, councilors would only become “empty shells” or “traffickers”. He reminded that even the representatives of STAN did not accept the SPOLU offer. According to him, the solution would be for the ODS to withdraw from the proposal to create the position of investment super deputy and free up the remaining seat of the STAN movement.
![Video studio ČT24](https://ct24.ceskatelevize.cz/sites/default/files/styles/file-video_16x9/public/images/2677039-etnrtnrt.jpg?itok=BRDNpaLw)
Zdeněk Hřib for the election of the mayor of Prague
Source: ČT24
On the contrary, according to Svoboda, the choice is “completely in accordance with the law on the capital city of Prague, it is completely in accordance with our rules of procedure”. He repeated that the Ministry of the Interior also sanctioned this procedure. “I don’t know what more I could legally do to allow this to happen. (…) Everyone is a lawyer here, but no one went to that school,” he remarked.
According to him, his word is so powerful that it can “move a plot that has frozen and has no solution.” “That I will be able to convince those with whom I deal that it is not a question of posts and functions, but that it is a question of activity, a question of concept, a question of what we want to achieve,” he said.
![Video Bohuslav Svoboda on the election of the mayor of Prague](https://ct24.ceskatelevize.cz/sites/default/files/styles/file-video_16x9/public/images/2677048-svoboda.jpg?itok=W_ufBeuI)
Bohuslav Svoboda for the election of the mayor of Prague
Source: ČT24
Svoboda also criticized the lengthy meeting of representatives on Thursday before the nomination of candidates for mayor. “Today’s meeting is a mess. As they have been for four years, the Pirates once again performed something that is truly unreal, and I don’t know another word for it. “I’ve been absolutely senseless since morning, although the program was quite simple,” said Svoboda. According to him, the quality of the discussion “is not worthy of a meeting of the capital city of Prague” and it is about “showing off one’s own ego without any progress”.
During the meeting, representatives began to argue about the correctness of the procedure for electing the mayor without changing councilors. In often personal invectives, they also began to blame each other for the fact that even after more than two months after the elections, a new coalition has not been formed, and they also blamed each other for what they did or did not do in the past.
Unconventional, but not illegal, says Pospíšil
Praha Sobě and Pirát described the procedure as a legal mess and a negotiation debacle TOGETHER. It will not support the announced procedure. Representative Hana Kordová Marvanová (for ODS) said that the Pirates are not right about this. “We have the opinion of the legislative department, but mainly also of the relevant department of the Ministry of the Interior. It is a possible step. It is abnormal that a quarter of a year after the elections, Prague has no leadership,” she said.
![Video studio ČT24](https://ct24.ceskatelevize.cz/sites/default/files/styles/file-video_16x9/public/images/2677017-marvanova.jpg?itok=eyQJcaAf)
Hana Kordová Marvanová /nestr. for ODS/ to vote on the new mayor of Prague
Source: ČT24
“It’s unconventional, but it’s in no way against the law,” pointed out representative Jiří Pospíšil (TOP 09). According to him, after being elected mayor, Svoboda could be the moderator of further negotiations. “I can contribute to the agreement on the future government coalition,” he added.
Pospíšil also rejected the statement of the current mayor Hřiby that the agreement between SPOLU and ANO is the period of the opposition contract. “This is only the choice of the mayor, the leader of the winning group of the autumn elections. The debate makes me terribly sad, because I still think that the human trenches need to be filled in, not enlarged,” he added.
![Video studio ČT24](https://ct24.ceskatelevize.cz/sites/default/files/styles/file-video_16x9/public/images/2677014-pospisil.jpg?itok=InkbMP3a)
Jiří Pospíšil /TOP 09/ to vote on the new mayor of Prague
Source: ČT24
STAN will not vote
The chairman of the representative club SPOLU for Prague Zdeněk Zajíček (ODS) also believes that the election of a new mayor could unblock the situation in negotiations. “It must be said that the solution is unconventional, that’s true. On the other hand, the law allows such a possibility. The mayor thus assumes his functions, which are defined in the law. For example, he will convene a council meeting or a council meeting,” he said on the ČT24 broadcast.
According to Zajíček, Prague deserves a mayor like Bohuslav Svoboda. “He has experience in managing the city and already knows what needs to be done for Prague. And not only in crisis situations, such as an unprecedented energy crisis or the issue of coalition negotiations,” he said.
![Video studio ČT24](https://ct24.ceskatelevize.cz/sites/default/files/styles/file-video_16x9/public/2677020-zajicek.jpg?itok=IWfw6JmE)
Zdeněk Zajíček /ODS/ to vote on the new mayor of Prague
Source: ČT24
STAN representative Petr Hlaváček confirmed that the entire movement will not participate in the vote. “We will gladly support Bohuslav Svoboda for the post of mayor within the framework of a properly negotiated coalition of democratic parties. But this situation is completely different, at this moment we cannot raise our hand for the associate professor,” he added.
Nacher: Prague deserves at least a mayor
Hlaváček believes that he will deal with the Pirates and the STAN movement TOGETHER again. “We will again discuss the terms of a very solid and long-term sustainable coalition. We are ready to discuss, for example, tomorrow, how to set the rules of cooperation, the number of people in line. And make a really serious deal,” he added.
![Video studio ČT24](https://ct24.ceskatelevize.cz/sites/default/files/styles/file-video_16x9/public/2677019-hlavacek.jpg?itok=wCmRxXwE)
Petr Hlaváček /STAN/ to vote on the new Prague mayor
Source: ČT24
The fact that the mayor of Prague could be elected on Thursday, I consider ANO leader in Prague Patrik Nacher to be a signal to the citizens that “there is a politician who will emerge from the 2022 elections”. He reminded that the ANO movement is not the one leading the negotiations on a new coalition. “We can contribute as much as possible to what we wanted, that is, a minority council. “Three months after the elections, Prague deserves to have at least a mayor right now,” he says.
Nacher also criticized the Pirates and Praha for falling for Bohuslav Svoboda and threatening the courts. “It’s just desperate whining. They were not allowed to think that they would either have to back down or lose those functions. The head of the legislative department said it had no chance of succeeding in court,” Nacher said.
![Video Patrik Nacher on the election of Prague mayor](https://ct24.ceskatelevize.cz/sites/default/files/styles/file-video_16x9/public/images/2677026-wnn.jpg?itok=vV8kA9ve)
Patrik Nacher for the election of the mayor of Prague
Source: ČT24
The longest negotiation in Prague
Coalition negotiations began immediately after the elections. Since then, representatives of the individual parties have been meeting continuously. TOGETHER advocated the creation of a coalition similar to the government one, i.e. with the Pirates and STAN, but the negotiations ended unsuccessfully. This year’s negotiations on the new city leadership are the longest in the history of Prague since 1993.
The SPOLU coalition won the municipal elections in Prague this year, winning 19 mandates in the 65-member council. ANO ended second with 14 mandates. The third Pirates have 13 representatives and Praha Sobě 11 mandates. Five representatives belong to STAN, the sixth SPD won three mandates.