ANO and ultranationalist SPD to govern together in more than one Czech city
The Czech city of Děčín has become the country's first incorporated municipality with city status where the "Freedom and Direct Democracy" (SPD) movement figures in the local coalition government after the local elections in September. The victorious ANO movement will govern there together with SPD, which came in second.
Jiří Anděl of ANO will remain Děčín’s mayor. The two movements will also govern together in Orlová and in Znojmo.
ANO and SPD will have 16 votes together on the 27-member local assembly in Děčín. The movements plan to sign the coalition agreement tomorrow, 10 October.
The opposition in Děčín includes the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), “Our Děčín” (Náš Děčín), the Pirates and “Vote for Děčín” (Volba pro Děčín). “The city council will have nine members, six from ANO and three from the SPD,” Anděl said.
The candidate list leader in Děčín for the SPD was Czech MP Jaroslav Foldyna, a former vice-chair of the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD). News server iDNES.cz reports he will become a Deputy Mayor.
“My role as Deputy Mayor will be in addition to my main occupation. I want to take charge in Děčín of the issue of excluded localities and controversial places in the city,” Foldyna said.
ANO and SPD is a problem for some local assembly members in Znojmo
A coalition of ANO, the SPD and the “Znojmáci” (“Znojmans”) had previously been agreed in Znojmo. It has 16 of 31 mandates and has already signed an agreement; it will next create a program statement and distribute city council functions.
Elected representative Jan Šťastník has resigned from the ANO movement in Znojmo and Jan Padalík has resigned from the Znojmáci movement, followed by Bruno Kotrnetz, who was supposed to replace him, all over the coalition with the SPD. Bert Bartas, the second substitute for Padalík, will sit on the council.
“All the votes hadn’t even been counted last Saturday and the leadership of ANO in Znojmo was already inviting the SPD and Znojmáci to a meeting,” public broadcaster Czech Television reported Šťastník as saying. According to him, there were no further negotiations on a different form for the coalition.
Šťastník stated that the SPD would be acceptable to him only once it became clear there was no other coalition variant. Padalík said he does not identify with the SPD’s national program, which is why he resigned, as did his colleague Kotrnetz.
ANO supports SPD Deputy Mayor in Orlová
The victorious ANO movement has also concluded a coalition agreement with the SPD in Orlová and also invited the ČSSD to collaborate. Once the constituent assembly is held in the town of 30,000, there will be a basic change to the politicians at the town hall.
Orlová is the only bigger town in the Karviná area where the SPD has made it into the leadership. The movement won 17 %, coming in second, and its representative will become Deputy Mayor, according to the agreement.
The mayor will be Lenka Brzyszkowská of ANO. Collaborating with the SPD doesn’t bother her.
“For us this is a signal that it is the voters’ will to have the SPD, supported by Tricolor, in the leadership of the town. As a movement, we respect that. Moreover, I believe local politics is more about the individuals than it is about the names of the parties,” Brzyszkowská told public broadcaster Czech Radio.
SPD strengthened its position in the local elections
The municipal elections have strengthened the SPD movement, led by Tomio Okamura, overall. While four years ago the movement had 161 local assembly members after the local elections, this year it has almost three times as many.
Nationwide the SPD have acquired 492 mandates. For the first time it will have local assembly members in all of the regional towns.
According to the boss of the movement, Okamura, this is an indication that people are dissatisfied with the current coalition government at the national level. “We, as the SPD, consider these elections to have been a success because, based on the current results, it seems the SPD movement has increased the number of our local assembly members in cities and municipalities. It seems this growth will be rather significant,” Okamura previously said.
The movement will have local assembly members for the first time in Hradec Králové, Karlovy Vary and Liberec. It also scored more votes than previously in Olomouc and Ústí nad Labem.
