Jaroslav Miko is running for the EP for the Mayors and Independents, as a half-Romani man he will reach out to Roma and non-Roma

Second place on the list goes to the vice-chair of STAN, the lawyer Jan Farský. Tenth place is occupied by civil rights activist and truck driver Jaroslav Miko.

The movement, which is part of the Czech Republic’s coalition government, will seek votes to the EP under the name of “Mayors and Figures for Europe” (Starostové a osobnosti pro Evropu), and their campaign slogan will be “So your concerns will be addressed in Europe”. The candidate list was presented in front of Café Expo 58 in Prague, which has a view of the Vltava River.

In addition to presenting their whole candidate list, STAN also presented the 12 priorities it will advocate for at the EP. The head of STAN, Vice Prime Minister Vít Rakušan, said that in the Czech Republic the European Union has been turned into a “scarecrow” which is blamed by the country for its own failures and reversals of fortune.

“It’s as if we haven’t fully realized, during our 20 years in the EU, that it’s not some kind of evil ‘them’, but that we ourselves are the EU,” Rakušan said. According to him, in the Czech Republic the discussion has been dominated by eurosceptics who create a negative atmosphere in society.

“We’re building a candidate list that will oppose this, one that is full of enthusiastic, pro-EU people and professionals,” Rakušan said. While STAN had previously announced their leaders would be Nerudová and Farský, they finally announced Nerudová as the sole frontrunner.

STAN say that they want their program to concentrate on the quality of life in the regions, on Europe’s friendliness toward young people, on better protection against migration and on grocery self-sufficiency. They also want to push for greenhouse gas emission reductions and for Europe to win the ongoing fight against disinformation.

Nerudová and Farský are joined on the candidate list by Petra Korlaar, Vice-Mayor of Mikulov, in third place; Deputy Minister for Regional Development Radim Sršeň in fourth place; and Czech MP Lucie Potůčková in fifth place. Another Czech MP, Martin Exner, is running in sixth place; student Adam Trunečka is running in seventh place; and a lawyer of Belarussian origin, Andrej Poleščuk, is in eighth place. In tenth place the candidate is the civil rights activist and truck driver Jaroslav Miko, who has thanked STAN for his spot on their candidate list.

Miko: I want to concentrate on addressing poverty and segregation

“I think it’s absolutely amazing that after quite some time a Romani man is on the candidate list of a party in government for elections as important as are those to the European Parliament,” Miko told news server Romea.cz. “I’m a clearly pro-EU person, and the values the STAN movement stands for are close to me,” he explained when asked why he had agreed to take the offer of running for the movement.

Miko said he wants to concentrate on addressing issues touching on poverty and segregation. “Those things are of essential importance to me – for example, educational segregation. If I manage to be seated in the EP, there will be a lot of room there to advocate for matters which are in the interests of the Roma and not against the interests of the majority society,” he told Romea.cz.

“As somebody who is half-Romani, somebody whose children are Romani, I will certainly reach out to Romani voters, but I won’t concentrate just on them. It’s clear to me that the community of Roma is not uniform, but I want to reach all Roma, so I won’t categorize them in any way,” he told Romea.cz.

According to frontrunner Nerudová, STAN aims to gain at least four seats; currently it has one at the EP. They have CZK 15 million [EUR 595,000] for the campaign.

Nerudová thanked STAN for showing their faith in her, as an independent candidate, by placing her at the very top of the list. She said her fellow candidates are people who want to create what Europe will be.

“None of us fears the preferential voting system, if you have a preferred candidate, circle them,” Nerudová said. She was apparently referring to information reported by the media that candidates running on the SPOLU list (the governing Czech coalition of the Civic Democrats, Christian Democrats, and TOP 09) are not allowed to receive preferential votes.

Miko: I’ll need about 14,000 preferential votes to be elected

It is exactly the circling of such preferential votes that Miko must rely on if he wants to succeed at being seated in the EP. “From 10th place the chance of success may seem low, but I’m deeply convinced we will win four seats and I will succeed because I have quite a strong team aiding me. I have many people in the regions who also want to assist me as volunteers. I believe I also have the financial resources necessary to run a quality campaign, and mainly, I believe I know what I’m doing. I hope to be persuasive enough that people will believe I’m sincere about what I say and what I want to do,” he assessed his chances, adding that he estimates he will need between 13,000 and 14,000 preferential votes to move up the candidate list and win a seat at the EP.

The EP elections will be held in June. Voters will decide who sits in the legislature’s 720 seats, 15 more than in the session now coming to an end.

The rise in the number of seats is a response to demographic changes in the EU. The Czech Republic currently has 21 seats and that number will not change.

The top candidate on the SPOLU list is Czech MEP Alexandr Vondra (Civic Democratic Party – ODS), while the Pirates’ candidate list will be led by Czech MEP Marcel Kolaja. The leader of the candidate list for the Association of Dissatisfied Citizens (ANO) movement will be a Vice-Chair of the Chamber of Deputies, Czech MP Klára Dostálová.

It is exactly on the ANO candidate list that another Romani man will be running, according to information received by news server Romea.cz – David Beňák. The “Freedom and Direct Democracy” (SPD) list will be led by former Czech MEP Petr Mach, who previously led the Svobodní (Free Citizens) party.