Czech Government Romani Affairs Commissioner Lucie Fuková: Romani people should vote and not fall for promises

Those are the views of Czech Government Roma Affairs Commissioner Lucie Fuková as reported by the Czech News Agency (ČTK). News server Romea.cz has reported that the gap is widening between the Romani middle class and those who live in what are called excluded localities in the country. 

Both presidential candidates have their Romani voters. According to the most recently-published Czech Government Report on the State of the Romani Minority, there are almost 250,000 Romani men and women in the country.

Roughly 110,000 Romani people live in exclusion in localities that are marginalized or poor, while 140,000 Romani people are part of mainstream society. According to the first-round results of the presidential election, Andrej Babiš, the billionaire leader of the Association of Dissatisfied Citizens (ANO) movement, distinctly dominated in places with so-called ghettos.

Retired Army General Petr Pavel won the first round with the support of big cities and richer regions. Fuková said the voter potential of Romani men and women could be very attractive to politicians.

She also pointed out that the Romani community is divided during this presidential election, just as the rest of Czech society is. “It’s important that Romani people take an interest in politics and vote,” she said.

“It’s entirely up to each person who they vote for,” Fuková told ČTK. However, she also said she believes no voters should succumb to promises of rapid solutions to their problems.

Fuková is the country’s first-ever Commissioner for Romani Affairs. In her view, Romani people generally do not vote much.

She believes the ROMEA organization has contributed to the Romani community’s interest in the ongoing presidential elections through its news server, which has published information about the candidates and about the opinions of both female and male Romani voters. According to the Romea.cz news server, the gap between the Romani middle class and those in the excluded localities is widening, both socially and in terms of values.

Fuková said she hopes both the divided minority and all of society will manage to come together after the elections. Both presidential candidates have said that as heads of state they would bring a Romani advisor on board and attend the commemorative ceremony at the site of the former Protectorate-era concentration camp at Lety u Písku, which imprisoned entire Romani communities.

Pavel said he would visit the memorial even if he does not become president. Babiš said he would go to the memorial if Romani people invite him there.

Candidate Pavel has also called on Romani people to vote. His message for Romani voters is that they can rely on him “not to butter you up”.

Babiš told the Romani community to vote for him because he aids everybody irrespective of skin color. He also mentioned that it was a big disappointment for him that the “Freedom and Direct Democracy” (SPD) movement did not support him before the second round of voting.

Some Romani figures have been criticizing Babiš’s campaign, pointing out his meetings to court the ultranationalist, welfare chauvinist SPD and reminding Romani voters of his previous anti-Romani remarks. News server Romea.cz has linked to an audiovisual recording from 2016 in which Babiš, while visiting the Holocaust site at Lety in his then-role as Vice PM and Finance Minister, alleges that Romani people are “parasites” on the welfare system, don’t work, and destroy property.

Prior to that remark, Babiš had alleged that the concentration camp for Roma at Lety had really just been for anybody who “didn’t work”. He later apologized for that remark and his trip to Lety was meant to be an atonement, but he used it as an opportunity to speak about “parasites” instead.

Fans of Babiš say they believe he has aided people, they know him, and they know what they can expect from him. According to news server Romea.cz., videos are also circulating online among Romani people alleging that candidate Pavel is against Romani people and “beat gypsies up” in the past.

In 2021, Karel Šíp, the moderator of public broadcaster Czech Television’s Všechnopárty program, made a joke about Pavel scuffling as a schoolboy, allegedly with some Romani guys in his neighborhood. Another video is circulating online that is a couple of days old showing Babiš dancing with Romani people at a baptism party.