Prague, Aug 31 (CTK) – Five Czech parties, both from the coalition government and the opposition, have refused to take part in a debate in the media owned by Finance Minister Andrej Babis (ANO) before the forthcoming regional and Senate elections, daily Pravo writes on Wednesday.
The elections will be held on October 7-8. The Senate run-off will follow one week later.
The Social Democrats (CSSD) and Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL), both from the coalition government, and the opposition Civic Democratic Party (ODS), TOP 09 and Mayors and Independents (STAN) have decided to boycott the video debate to which they were invited by the server idnes.cz, a part of Babis’s media empire Mafra, Pravo writes.
The parties agree that this is not a politically neutral environment.
Babis bought the Mafra media group that publishes Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) and Lidove noviny (LN), two of the biggest Czech dailies, in 2013.
According to the Forbes magazine, Babis’s property is worth 2.4 billion US dollars and he is the second richest businessman in the Czech Republic, after Petr Kellner (11.4 billion US dollars).
Babis is a food and media mogul who helped establish the Agrofert company in the 1990s. He has gradually gained its control.
In autumn 2011, Babis founded the movement Action of Dissatisfied Citizens (ANO) that was transformed into ANO 2011.
In 2013, ANO gained almost 19 percent of the vote in the general election, becoming the second strongest party after the CSSD. ANO joined the centre-left coalition government formed in January 2014 and headed by Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (CSSD).
The Mafra publishers invited the parties to an election video debate on idnes.cz with MfD editor-in-chief Jaroslav Plesl as its anchorman, Pravo writes.
Sobotka told Pravo that he cannot see any reason to take part in such a discussion because Babis’s media can hardly be a ground for a correct political debate.
“I will call the things with their right names. MfD and LN are not independent newspapers. They belong to Babis who actively uses them as an instrument of his business and political influence, often waging untrue and expedient campaigns against his opponents on their pages,” Sobotka told the paper.
TOP 09 leader Miroslav Kalousek has expressed a similar view, Pravo writes.
“I have politely refused this because Mafra is not any politically neutral environment, including the presumed anchorman,” Kalousek told the paper.
KDU-CSL leader, Deputy Prime Minister Pavel Belobradek, will not attend the debate either, Pravo writes.
“I will go neither to the individual nor the joint part. I will not create the impression that MfD is a neutral environment,” Belobradek said.
ANO and STAN leaders Petr Fiala and Petr Gazdik reacted in a similar way.
Pravo writes that in two weeks the Chamber of Deputies will vote on “Antibabis,” the bill on the conflict of interests.
It includes the clause that government members would not be allowed to dominate business corporations and own the media, Pravo writes.
If passed, Babis would have to give up his domination of Agrofert and could not own Mafra if he wanted to be a member of a future cabinet, it adds.
Babis has called the legislation expedient as it targets his own person, Pravo writes.
