Czech vote: President plans to use power to protect Babis election news

Prague, Czech Republic- Activities are in full swing; political debates are flooded with radio waves; all parties are complaining and promising the earth.

This is the standard of any election. But many people worry that it doesn’t really matter who the Czechs voted for when they vote on October 8-9.

That was because Milos Zeman announced that he was planning to launch a presidential coup.

The head of state stated that he will use the power of the president to appoint the leader of the party with the most votes as prime minister. This means another term for the current André Babis.

The billionaire prime minister’s Ano party leads the polls with about 27% approval rate, but it may be difficult to establish a ruling coalition.

The two electoral coalitions, the liberal PaS and the center-right Spolu-collectively referred to as the “democratic bloc”-each had a voter turnout of about 21%.

Both can surpass Ano. But this still cannot ensure the position of prime minister. Zeman claimed that the electoral coalition was “fraud”.

Electricity Agreement

But Jiri Pehe, a political analyst and former adviser to the first Czech president, Vaclav Havel, said that Zeman’s position was illogical and added that Zeman just wanted to gain leverage. .

Since taking office at Prague Castle in 2013, this cunning political veteran has been testing the boundaries of his main ceremonial position.

Four years ago, because other parties refused to cooperate with Babis, Zeman violated the rules and allowed the billionaire to form a minority government coalition for nine months.

This is the beginning of a power agreement that continues to this day.

Babis benefited from Zeman’s strong support among older and provincial Czechs. He is eager to stay in power to avoid the threat of criminal charges related to his use of EU funds.

Czech Prime Minister Andrei Babis leaves the face-to-face EU summit in Brussels, Belgium on May 25, 2021. REUTERS/Johanna Geron/Pool (Reuters)

In turn, the President was pleased with Babis’s indifference and considered the fierce competition in the October vote as an opportunity to increase his influence.

Pecher said: “Zeman can keep Babis in place, or try to establish a caretaker government, but in any case, we may be deadlocked until the second and final term of the president ends in March 2023. “

‘Untouchable’

Faced with this situation, PaS and Spolu have almost no choice.

However, if they get even a small majority of the 200 seats in the parliament, they will have some influence, and it is estimated that this can be achieved with 43-45% of the votes.

In this case, they can control Zeman by threatening to cut funds in the president’s office or through a motion by the Constitutional Court to declare the president unsuitable.

“This makes it vital for people to vote, even if they find it meaningless,” Pecher said. “The majority of seats in anti-democratic parties will allow Zeman to play freely.”

Katerina Stepanova, who runs a pet food business in Prague, called Zeman “arrogant.”

Regardless of the president’s plan, she plans to vote for one of the Democratic League coalitions.

“Even if it seems meaningless, it is important to participate in the election,” said the 48-year-old. “We must teach our children the importance of not being passive.”

However, PaS leader Ivan Bartos (Ivan Bartos) is not optimistic.

“We will definitely talk to the president after the vote and try to form a democratic government [with Spolu],” He said.

“But he will do what he wants. He has reached his last term and has nothing to lose. He must remember that he cannot commit treason, but otherwise, he is almost untouchable.”

Protesters may also try to monitor the president’s actions.

The One Million Moment of Democracy is a civic movement that brought more than 250,000 protesters to the streets of Prague in 2019. If Zeman undemocratically makes Babis the prime minister, he plans to call for a new wave of demonstrations. Stepanova said she would participate.

In 2019, the civic movement “One Million Moments of Democracy” brought hundreds of thousands of anti-government protesters onto the streets of Prague [File: David W Cerny/Reuters]

The leader of the movement asserted that the president’s plan is a threat to Czech democracy. Critics also claim that it has the potential to poison the political environment and may rely on the support of “extremist” parties and impose an unstable minority government in the country.

At the same time, Pecher predicts that the consequences will not be catastrophic.

He said: “The Czech democratic system is stronger than Hungary and Poland, whose populist government manipulated the system.”

“Zeman and Babis have no ability to fundamentally undermine Czech democracy.”

However, Bartos seemed more worried about the potential impact of Zeman’s plan on the political landscape, which was guided by the constitution that was hurriedly enacted when communism collapsed in 1989 and was not yet perfect.

Zeman has been exploiting many of its vulnerabilities for many years.

The opposition leader warned: “The president has rejected the traditional requirement-it is not written anywhere in fact-that the government should be composed of parties that can get 101 seats in the parliament.”

The President’s Office did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

Suppress the rebellion

Zeman’s plan to exert influence after the election may include repairing relations with Russia and China.

Although the president and his circle (many of whom have deep economic ties in the East) tried to influence foreign policy to consolidate ties, the liberal political institutions have caused countless quarrels.

This even encouraged Babis-who has always been keen to maintain a good image among his EU counterparts-to oppose the president’s agenda.

In April, his government Expelled More than 100 Russian diplomats accused Moscow of attacking an ammunition depot in 2014.

Prague expelled more than 100 Russian diplomats earlier this year because it accused Moscow of participating in a multi-year attack on an ammunition depot [File: David W Cerny/Reuters]

If Zeman’s plan is implemented, such objections will not be tolerated. The president has been trying to show Babis who the boss is all summer.

In particular, he asked the Prime Minister to hand over the head of Mikhail Kudelka to him. Under his leadership, the Czech security services established strong ties with Western allies and loudly warned of threats from Russia and China.

Before the election, Babis managed to kick the jar down, but the days of the spy chief seemed to be numbered.

As Pecher said: “Zeman holds most of the cards in this relationship.”

Many people expect that the head of state will make further demands for the new government. The most important of these may be the restoration of the positions of Russian and Chinese companies in national tenders for nuclear energy and telecommunications.

As a newspaper columnist warned: “If André Babis thinks he will go [Prague] Castle got the prime ministerial position from an old friend, he would agree with him in some way, he was wrong. “