The Czech Parliament is once again discussing the election of the Speaker of the Chamber. STAN calls on ANO deputies not to vote for Okamura, while the atmosphere is accompanied by tensions and calls to conscience.
On Wednesday, Czech MPs gathered again in the lower chamber of the parliament (PSP), where its constitutive meeting, which was interrupted on Monday, continues. Among other things, the program includes the election of the chairman and vice-chairmen. Before the start of the meeting, the STAN movement called on members of the ANO movement not to vote in a secret election for the chairman of the SPD, who is the joint nominee of the emerging coalition for the highest post in the lower house, reports TASR in Prague.
- The Czech Parliament continues its constituent session today.
- They are electing the chairman and vice-chairmen, candidate tensions persist.
- The STAN movement criticizes the nomination of Okamura as Speaker of the House.
The meeting began with a minute’s silence for the deceased Cardinal Dominik Duka. After that, outgoing Minister of Health Vlastimil Válek additionally took the parliamentary oath. The MPs then continued with the next item on the agenda, which was the establishment of the mandate and immunity committee.
Election of the Chairman of the PSP
After the break, three substitutes for the members of the ANO movement, who gave up their mandate on Monday, took the oath. Then came the point of electing the chairman. In addition to Okamura, Jan Bartošek from the KDU-ČSL, who was its vice-chairman in the past election period, is also running for the head of the lower chamber. People’s posters with the slogans “Jan Bartošek to the head of the House” and “Vote according to your best knowledge and conscience” appeared in the Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday.
Before the start of the meeting, the STAN movement called on the members of the ANO movement not to vote for Okamura as the Speaker of the House. STAN considers his nomination a “national and international shame”. The leader of the movement and the current minister of the interior, Vít Rakušan, said that if Bartošek is not elected as head of the PSP, the ANO movement should nominate its candidate for the second round, and the parties of the outgoing government could also support this. Although the deputies of the emerging coalition committed themselves by signing the amendment to the coalition agreement to comply with everything that follows from it, including the election of the chairman of the PSP, which according to the agreement went to the SPD movement, the election is secret, so it will not be possible to find out who might not have voted for him.
Uncertain election result
In the corridors, various versions of how the election could take place are being circulated among MPs and journalists. According to some politicians, it is possible that the Speaker of the House will not be elected on Wednesday, because the members of the outgoing coalition plan to obstruct the meeting until the night hours. At the same time, they are trying to convince those members of ANO who are not completely identified with Okamura in the position of head of the PSP, not to vote for him. According to others, a scenario is also possible that he would not be elected in the first round, which would cause him and the emerging government to suffer a certain loss of reputation.
