Czech antigypsyist ultra-right party expresses support for incumbent in presidential race

Members and sympathizers of the extremist Workers Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti – DSSS) should support the incumbent, Miloš Zeman, in the second round of the presidential race this Friday and Saturday, according to a recommendation that was approved on 20 January by delegates to an extraordinary convention of the party. Former chair Tomáš Vandas was re-elected Chair of the unsuccessful party once again.

His challenger, Jiří Froněk, ultimately was elected Vice-Chair by the delegates to the convention. The Executive Vice-Chair of the party remains Jiří Štěpánek and the Secretary remains Erik Lamprecht.

Alena Poláčková was newly elected Vice-Chair. Vandas expressed his support for Zeman during the first round of voting and has now reiterated it.

“So, it’s clear. In the second round we await a duel between Zeman and Drahoš. Now I can absolutely clearly say that in this situation it is necessary to support the current President. A Brussels yes-man, a supporter of immigrants, and a rejector of referenda, i.e, the ass-kisser Drahoš, is somebody whom I really don’t want at Prague Castle. All patriots should see it that way,” the DSSS chair posted to his Facebook profile.

The DSSS won 0.2 % of the vote during the autumn elections to the lower house compared 0.86 % of the vote in 2013, and according to Vandas, many of their previous voters cast ballots for either ANO or the “Freedom and Direct Democracy” (SPD) movement this fall. The party has existed in one form or another since 2004.

Since 2010 the DSSS has acted as the successor to the Workers’ Party (DS), which was dissolved by the Supreme Administrative Court on the basis of a motion filed by the Czech Interior Ministry. The DS, according to the court, was continuing the legacy of Nazi ideology, inciting violence, and striving for a radical transformation of the democratic order.