Unexpected step of the Prague coalition TOGETHER. Svoboda is to replace Hřibu, the rest of the council will not be elected
The ANO movement will support the election of the leader of SOLU (ODS, TOP 09 and KDU-ČSL) Bohuslav Svoboda as the mayor of Prague at Thursday’s meeting of representatives. He will replace Zdeňko Hřiby (Pirates) in the position. However, he will not be a member of the currently serving council, but will have the powers of the mayor. Svoboda will only sit in the new council, when the remaining ten new councilors will be allowed. However, the representatives will not vote for the minority council SLOTU, which was offered support by ANO, on Thursday. The parties will continue to discuss the agenda items presented by ANO. The representatives of the parties told journalists on Thursday. TOGETHER won the elections in Prague ahead of ANO and the Pirates.
“Since the meeting started on Sunday, that time was not enough. We have agreed for the moment that we will go with the winner of the election, we will support the election of docent Svoboda as mayor,” said MP and ANO leader Patrik Nacher.
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“We are ready to really propose Bohuslav Svoboda as a candidate for mayor, we are ready to give the full number of votes in this direction, we welcome that it is ANO that is ready to support Svoboda as a leader TOGETHER. We take it as the next step, when we set up council committees, and we expect that this should be followed by the permission of the whole council,” added Zdeněk Zajíček (ODS), chairman of SPOL representatives.
The election of Svoboda as mayor should be the first point of Thursday’s meeting of Prague representatives. TOGETHER and ANO have a narrow majority of 33 votes in the 65-member council. If Svoboda becomes mayor, he will have his legal powers, but he will not be a member of the council, which will remain in its current composition, with the difference that Hřib will no longer hold the position of mayor. The serving council will cease to exist only when all 11 members of the council have been elected.
TOGETHER originally agreed on a possible coalition on the ground plan of the government one, i.e. with the Pirates and STAN, but the negotiations ended unsuccessfully last week. After that, SPOLU began negotiating with ANO about a minority temporary council composed of representatives of SPOLU. ANO presented 15 program points that it supports. The parties are now negotiating about them. “We will not allow the advice itself at this time. “Since we weren’t able to shoot 100 percent at times, it’s fairer for us to do it this way,” Nacher said.
According to the chairman of SPOL representatives, Zdeňko Zajíček (ODS), the parties differ, for example, in ways of solving some problems in transport or the insufficient capacity of secondary schools.
Since Thursday’s decision, the parties promise to buy time to agree on a majority coalition. At the same time, the representatives of the parties admitted the possibility of discussing it among themselves. However, Svoboda and Zajíček reiterated that SPOLU is still promoting the formation of a coalition on the government’s plan. “We will discuss the government version, but we will also seek support from other representative clubs,” said Zajíček. Nacher said that YES he respects that. “I dare to say that with this (action TOGETHER and YES) the possibilities of how to form a majority coalition have expanded,” he said.
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.