The choice of Svoboda as mayor is not certain, the representatives postponed the vote until February
Prague representatives did not elect Spolu leader Bohuslav Svoboda as mayor on Thursday. After many hours of discussion, they postponed the election to February 9, 2023. Only politicians from ANO and Spolu wanted to raise their hands for him. However, together they have a majority of only one vote. Hana Kordová Marvanová told Aktuálně.cz that she cannot support Svoboda in the current situation.
Even almost three months after the elections, the representatives of Prague have not agreed on a new leadership. Representatives of the winning coalition Spolu, consisting of the ODS, TOP 09 and the People’s Party, only proposed to elect Bohuslav Svoboda postponed until the new year by the new mayor and the election of councilors. However, that didn’t happen in the end either.
A new mayor with an old council would be a very unusual situation for Prague. Only politicians from ANO and Spolu wanted to raise their hands for such an option. Together they had 33 out of 65 representatives.
Even in the afternoon, it seemed that colleagues from Spolu could count on the vote of Hana Kordová Marvanová from ODS. “I think it’s a logical step. I hope to create a situation so that after the New Year it can be about creating a stable majority council,” she said. She also justified her support by saying that because of such a stalemate, investments are expensive and there is a need to move.
On Thursday evening, however, she contacted the Aktuálně.cz editors with an explanation: “I thought that docent Svoboda has my support, but I do not want to support unity with ANO,” she said. She repeatedly emphasized that she values Svoboda, but that from the beginning she preferred a coalition on the government’s plan and therefore does not want to vote for a proposal that, apart from Together, only ANO will support. At the suggestion of Zdenek Zajíček from the ODS, the representatives suspended the mayoral election for around six hours and dealt with the budget.
The representatives of the Spolu coalition have also turned to the Ministry of the Interior to see if the election of only the mayor is not against the law. The Ministry claims that it is possible to proceed in this way. But that doesn’t seem to be the case with the Pirates, who call this move a legal misstep. They indicated they would go to court. “It would be nice if the court somehow assessed this,” said the deputy chairman of their representatives, Viktor Mahrik.
Not even Prague itself, the SPD and the Starostová were going to raise their hands for Freedom at Thursday’s meeting. “We will be very happy to support Professor Svoboda, but within the framework of a proper coalition. This situation is highly non-standard and undignified,” pointed out the current deputy mayor Petr Hlaváček from STAN.
If elected, Svoboda would only have the right of veto, proposals would continue to be discussed and voted on by the ex-officio council consisting of Pirates, Prague itself, TOP 09 and Mayors. Svoboda will not be a member of it and will not have the powers of the mayor.
Pirates want Svoboda’s medical report
The representatives met on Thursday at nine o’clock in the morning and by eight o’clock in the evening they still had not proceeded to the election. An hour later, they announced that they would not vote for Spolu leader Bohuslav Svoboda as mayor. Negotiations last until February 9, 2023. The suspension of the mayoral election disrupted 55 of the total 65 representatives of the capital city.
“What was managed today? The more conservative colleagues apparently wanted to be inspired by the practice of the medieval church of the anti-popes. But fortunately, we are not in the Middle Ages to get used to the fact that we have two popes in Prague. But the protectorate persists, the city does not have a new council. We therefore appeal to representatives of Spolu to start working for the city and start acting again. We are ready,” said Hlaváček.
A debate on the election of a new mayor is currently underway at the Prague council. Candidate Bohuslav Svoboda fled to the adjacent canteen before the debate. The deputies ask her about his plans and he lingers in the cafeteria. The most vocal defender of his candidacy is Ondřej Prokop/ ANO. Welcome to ODS
— Jan Čižinsky (@jancizinsky) December 15, 2022
Pirates and members of Prague criticized Svoboda at Thursday’s meeting, for example, because they left the meeting for the canteen. “After several decades, he hasn’t learned to park properly and laughs often and happily at his failed jokes,” said Pirate Jaromír Beránek. According to him, the future mayor should also submit a report on his state of health.
Representatives from these parties repeatedly call on Svoboda to submit to all accusations. The 78-year-old doctor did not speak until seven and a half hours after the start of the meeting. He spoke about the priorities that they want to promote for the next four years. These are energy, transport and education. In energy, he promised to minimize the risks associated with the current crisis. “We have to provide energy for the people of Prague so that there is no danger that the winter will be unbearable,” said Svoboda.
In transport, his priority is to move forward in the completion of ring roads and metro D, and in education he will ensure enough places in secondary schools. However, he definitely does not want to go down the path of banning children from the Central Bohemia region from commuting to Prague schools. “We need to do a population survey first to know how big and strong the vintages will be,” he outlined.
The former pirate councilor for education Vít Šimral then took the floor. They informed the representative that such an analysis has already been commissioned. Outgoing mayor Zdeněk Hřib (Pirates) in turn reminded Svoboda of the words of the Prime Minister and head of the ODS, Petr Fiala, that there is enough gas in the Czech Republic for the winter, and therefore there should be no threat that it would be unsustainable.
Bodeček suggested Marvanová for mayor
During the meeting, Pirate representative David Bodeček suggested that Kordová Marvanová, who received the most preferential votes in the elections, become mayor. “I take it as humor and I do not accept this candidacy,” answered Kordová Marvanová.
Spolu’s original intention was to create a government-style coalition with the Mayors and the Pirates. However, the pirates formed an alliance with Prague and wanted to sit in the new council only together. The winning coalition refused to accede to this.
Instead, she offered the Pirates seats in the new row, including the first square for transportation. But at the same time, she proposed the creation of a new position of councilor for investments. According to the Pirates, this would mean that the de facto deputy for transport would then be in charge of “sweeping the roads and cleaning the snow”.
What the Pirates refused After that to be part of such a coalition, Together began negotiating with the ANO movement for a minority government. ANO has offered them such support from the beginning, but on Wednesday they only agreed to elect only the mayor. “Given that the meeting started on Sunday, there was not enough time. For now, we agreed to honor the winner of the election and support the election of associate professor Svoboda as mayor,” said deputy and leader of Prague’s ANO Patrik Nacher.
Video: ODS should not claim the mayor in Prague and the majority in the council, says Bartoš (December 6, 2022)
In an interview with Aktuálně.cz, the president of the Pirates, Ivan Bartoš, also answered the question whether he or Zdeněk Hřib has the decisive word in the negotiations about the management of Prague. | Video: Radek Bartoníček, Dominika Hromková