The representatives will not elect Svoboda as mayor, they postponed the election until February
Update: 15/12/2022 23:08
Issued by: 15/12/2022, 21:57
Prague – Prague representatives will not elect Spolu (ODS, TOP 09 and KDU-ČSL) leader Bohuslav Svoboda (ODS) as mayor today. After many hours of discussion, they suspended the election until the meeting on February 9, 2023. The suspension of the mayoral election is ensured by 55 of the 65 representatives of the capital. Together, she originally agreed with the ANO movement that they would elect Svoboda as mayor, but they would not vote for the other ten councilors. Spolu and ANO were missing one vote, as the councilor Hana Kordová Marvanová (for Spolu) opposed the agreement, as she disliked the election method. The Pirates, Praha Sobě were also opposed, and the SPD did not vote for the election either. Spolu won the elections in Prague ahead of ANO and Pirates.
Coalition negotiations began immediately after the elections. Since then, representatives of the individual parties have been meeting continuously. Together, they advocated the creation of a coalition period, such as the government one, i.e. with the Pirates and STAN, but the negotiations ended in failure. This year’s negotiations on the new city leadership are the longest in the history of Prague since 1993.
“I have always been concerned with the interests of the people of Prague. I firmly believed that the same applies to all the remaining 18 representatives that I have in my team. Today it became clear, and I personally have to say that it is a human disappointment for me that they all feel the same responsibility . For someone, his image is more important than serving the people of Prague and the future of the city. For me, it’s posturing,” said Svoboda.
Together and ANO did not have enough votes in the end. Senator and councilor Marvanová opposed it. “I am in favor of Mr. Svoboda becoming mayor, but it is against my skin that it should be based on such an agreement with ANO. This is unacceptable for me and it is not right. I support Mr. Svoboda and we have been talking about it for a long time,” she said ČTK Marvanová. According to her, it is impossible that, as a dissident who was imprisoned by the communists, she supports the agreement with ANO. Among other things, she alluded to the fact that the former mayor of Prague 10, Radmila Kleslová, who, according to the media, was an agent of the communist StB, is behind ANO in the council.
Marvanová also told ČTK that she is ready to vote for Svoboda in the event that a coalition is agreed through the standard way. I will be happy if he is the mayor, I respect him, but I can’t look away from how this agreement was made,” she added. According to the reactions of people on social networks, the people of Prague who wrote to her are also against such a choice.
Marvanová’s attitude was appreciated by the serving mayor Zdenek Hřib (Pirates). “During the last election period, I had quite different opinions with the doctor, however, I appreciate that she really sticks to the ideals with which she went to the elections and does not want to add her vote to vote with StB intelligence officer Kleslova. It is exactly in the spirit of what Spolu promised before the election,” he said. He called the effort to elect Svoboda with the support of ANO a betrayal of the voters.
Spolu representatives announced on Wednesday together with the ANO movement that ANO will support the election of Svoboda as mayor of Prague at today’s meeting of representatives. On Sunday, both parties began to discuss a possible partnership with the minority councils Spolu from the ANO 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.
From the beginning, the election of Svoboda as mayor was rejected by Praha Sobě and Pirát, who announced the progress of Spolu and ANO, who called Spolu a legal blunder and a negotiation debacle. According to them, the election would create a number of problems, including the fact that, if elected, Svoboda would be the only statutory representative of Prague according to the law, and in the event of vacation or illness, there would be no one to represent him. The current deputies, who represent the mayor during his absence, would become ordinary councillors.
STAN also stood against the election of Svoboda, which, according to its leader and the mayor’s deputy Petr Hlaváček, is not opposed to further negotiations on a coalition on the government’s plan, i.e. with Spolu and Piráty. “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.