Romani candidate for Czech Senate will not advance to the second round, but scores better than his extremist opponents
Cyril Koky, the Pirate Party’s candidate in the Kolín precinct for this year’s elections to a third of the Czech Senate, will not be advancing to the second round. With 100 % of the ballots cast counted, his results were reported as 4 173 voters, or 9.32 % of the electorate, a sixth-place finish.
Pavel Kárník, the “Mayors and Independents” (STAN) candidate, advanced in first place to the second round with 20.05 % of the vote, while Igor Karen (ANO 2011) came in second with 14.81 %. Seventh place went to Petr Žantovský, the “Freedom and Direct Democracy” (SPD) candidate, with 5.62 % of the vote, followed by the candidate proposed by the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM) and the candidate proposed by the Tricolor movement.
Turnout in the Kolín precinct was more than 39 %. Nationwide, Senate candidates running for the combined tickets of the ANO movement and the Mayors won 10 precincts.
Senate candidates for STAN and the Mayors for the Liberec Region (SLK) won in eight of 27 precincts, while those running just for ANO won in three. The Civic Democratic Party (ODS) Senate candidates made it to the second round in nine precincts, five of them in first place.
Representatives of the Christian Democrats (KDU-ČSL) ran in six precincts and won half of them. Voter turnout nationwide for the Senate race was more than 36.5 %.
In an interview for news server Romea.cz before the election, Koky said he would consider it a success to make it to the second round. “I can’t guess how many people will turn out or for whom they will cast their votes. We’ll see on Saturday evening,” he said.
Koky also said he wanted to focus, if elected, on laws that affect impoverished families, such as legislation on social housing, construction law or the law on collections proceedings, and that if he won office he would stop working for the Central Bohemian Regional Authority, where he is an expert official in the area of national minorities, and would fully dedicate himself to the job of Senator. He has been a resident of Kolín since 1987.
As a career member of the military, Koky served in Kolín’s Military Garrison. He is married and his wife works at a local hospital as a nurse.
The couple have two children. His older son has graduated from the Faculty of Law at Masaryk University in Brno, while his daughter is a student at the Faculty of Economics and Management at the University in Pardubice.
In 1998 Koky began working for the Social Welfare Department at the District Authority in Nymburk. He earned a Bachelor’s degree from the Academia Rerum Civilium of the College of Political and Social Sciences in Kolín and a Master’s degree from the University of Economics and Public Administration Management in Bratislava, Slovakia.
In 2017, Koky earned a Master’s in Public Administration from the Academia Rerum Civilium of the College of Political and Social Sciences in Kutná Hora. Since 2003 he has worked as an expert official in the field of national minorities for the Central Bohemian Regional Authority.
