Robert Malecký: The worst post-election news for Prague voters is that politicians despise them
We hear what everything is about the long negotiations of the coalition and what principles have been violated. The plan to elect Bohuslav Svoboda from the ODS as mayor, but not to elect a new council, is said to be a legal blunder, at least according to the Pirates. Together and ANO, who are the architects of the agreement, however, have the opinion of the Ministry of the Interior that such a procedure is in order. STAN leader Petr Hlaváček even embarked on historicizing analogies. “The more conservative colleagues apparently wanted to be inspired by the practice of the medieval church of the antipopes. But fortunately, we are not in the Middle Ages to get used to having two popes in Prague. But the protectorate continues, the city does not have a new council.”
Impressive, but there is still nothing tragic about the fact that the ministry, as an executive body exercising methodical supervision over the progress of local governments, issues an opinion because some of the parties do not like it. It happens quite regularly at town halls, whether it is about decrees, council procedures, councilors and the like. You can live with it, and there is always the option of turning to independent justice to resolve the dispute.
“The Marvanova Effect”
Then there is Hana Marvanová, since the time of Špidl’s flood tax day, an agent of intransigence and principles. “I am in favor of Mr. Svoboda becoming mayor, but I hate that it should be based on such an agreement with ANO. This is unacceptable for me and it is not right,” she said now, probably alluding to the fact that she would have agreed on the vote of the former mayor of Prague 10, Radmila Kleslova, with a record at the StB.
“I was always interested in the interests of the people of Prague. I firmly believed that it was the same for all the remaining eighteen representatives that I have in the team. Today it became clear, and I must personally say that it is a human disappointment for me, that I all feel the same responsibility. For some, his image is more important than serving the people of Prague and the future of the city. For me it’s posturing,” commented Hana Marvanová Svoboda’s attitude and showed how little he learned from Vladimír Špidla’s example.
How the metropolis will transform in the coming years:
But it is not even the “Marvanová effect” that should primarily interest and offend us in the Prague scrambles. Although Prague is the largest, it is still only a self-governing unit, of which there are thousands, roughly 6,400 across the country. Among them, for example, is Prackovice nad Labem. Two groups of independent candidates made it to the seven-member council, one with four, the other with three mandates. They did not agree, some representatives gave up their mandate and on March 23 there will be new elections here, as well as in the other 28 municipalities in the Czech Republic.
There is no leadership, there may be new elections
If the representatives in Prague are not able to secure new leadership, as they have not been and will not be for almost five months, there would be nothing tragic if they let new elections take place. The law and political practice take this into account, in three dozen municipalities we will see that the representatives have enough sense to read the political reality. At the end of March, people will get a new chance to deal cards in a different way, in Prague at that time they may still be arguing. The worst news from the developments in Prague is precisely the disrespect for voters, who have the right to have their will reflected in governance. If the representatives are not able to do it, let others do it. Or at least the same with other cards.