Czech Republic: RomanoNet relaunches its campaign to get out the Romani vote - "ME DŽAV! A so tu?" - for elections to the European Parliament

RomanoNet is continuing its similar campaign from 2018 which was also conducted with ROMEA on social media. The slogan “ME DŽAV! A so tu?” became engrained in the awareness of Romani civil society at that time and is being revived now.

A total of 15 videos will be published on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube through the RomanoNet profiles, aiming to reach first-time voters as well as the middle-aged and older generations through famous Romani figures and influencers. The campaign began with a video from the famous Romani musician and songwriter Gejza Horváth, who says: “Every vote is important, let’s influence our future and the direction of Europe together by uniting through art and music.”

Jessica Duždová, a young Romani PR manager for the Ostravská Nota organization, speaks in her video about the importance of every vote, as the outcome of these elections will be decided by very thin margins. The same message is delivered by other Romani figures such as the influencer Sabina Badžová; the manager of the ROMEA organization’s scholarship program, Štefan Balog; the singer Tommy Běla; the author Ilona Ferková; criminal justice student Denisa Hamáčková; and the vocalist Terezie Tessie Ondičová.

“We frequently hear from various politicians that Romani people don’t vote. Some Romani social media users even make this claim themselves. Polls of Romani voters don’t exist, though. On the contrary, we know of many politically aware Romani voters. At the same time, however, interest in politics and in elections per se is declining generally in society for a wide variety of reasons. Research shows that the elections to the EP have the lowest voter turnout,” explained Michal Miko, director of RomanoNet, as to why the campaign has been launched.

“In line with what RomanoNet has been involved with for a long time – i.e., promoting systemic change, striving for the greater participation of the Roma themselves in these changes in the role of actors, not just as objects of policy – we want to contribute to change. We want to activate Romani young people in particular, and also entire families,” Miko said, adding that the campaign is trying to create a motivating atmosphere to encourage the part of the Romani community that is less civically active to participate in the EP elections.

“We want Romani youth to feel that their vote has weight and that their participation is crucial to their future, we want them to lead cross-generational debates about this in their own families,” Miko said. The videos include instructions explaining where and how to vote in an attractive visual format, including what preferential voting is for, how to proceed to make sure a ballot is properly cast, and how to apply for a voter identification card.

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The campaign is also being published on its social media profiles by the ROMEA organization, which produced the videos and the instructions on how to vote. “ROMEA undertook the ME DŽAV! A so tu? campaign previously with RomanoNet. During the local elections in 2018 we managed to reach a wide range of voters with the aid of a similar campaign, which led to a rise in Romani voter turnout,” said the director of the ROMEA organization, Zdeněk Ryšavý.

“Our long-term efforts are aimed at ensuring that the Romani community has its own representation and voice in political institutions, which is key for the promotion of its own interests and rights. Through the Romea.cz news server, we regularly report the achievements of Romani candidates, which motivates other members of the community to become involved politically. We are pleased that we can continue with this tradition and contribute to making the Romani voice heard,” Ryšavý said.

The campaign will culminate in a debate on 5 June between three Romani EP candidates. News server Romea.cz and ROMEA TV will broadcast the debate live at 19:00 CET.

The debate will last an hour and a half and is meant to clarify why each candidate is running, what the subjects of their campaigns are, whom they are targeting, how they assess their campaigns and those of the other candidates, and what specifically they want to influence at the European Parliament should they be elected. They will also be asked to discuss what they plan to do should they not win office.

Viewers of the live broadcast online will be able to ask questions of the candidates during the debate.