Prague, Feb 4 (CTK) – To form an election coalition of two parties, which must win more than 10 percent of the vote, is daring, but not unfeasible, political analyst Kamil Svec told CTK on the Czech Christian Democrats’ (KDU-CSL) decision yesterday to cooperate with STAN.
A party running on its own, only needs 5 percent of the vote to enter parliament.
The junior government KDU-CSL’s national conference agreed yesterday with the proposal to ally forces in the October general election with the opposition Mayors and Independents (STAN).
STAN is yet to debate the proposal. Both parties want to prevent pro-democratic non-socialist forces losing influence on the developments in the country, as STAN chairman Petr Gazdik put it.
“It is not possible to expect the new coalition to gain the addition of the two parties’ voter support. Both groupings may lose a part of voters with their joint list of candidates, but others may support the new entity,” Svec said.
He said STAN is the weaker of the two parties. “It is a rich bride from the point of view of coverage of the country, but form the point of view of the election gain, this does not apply,” Svec said.
Political analyst Jan Outly said it is difficult to predict whether the coalition will cross the parliamentary barrier.
“On the other hand, it is possible that the alliance will mobilise the voters who have a liking for both parties, but who do not go to the polls, and they will come,” Outly said.
The fact that the election success is not sure may force people to go to the polls and cast their vote for the coalition, he said.
It will also depend on what campaign their election rivals will wage, Outly added.
Both parts of the new entity complement one another quite well, he said.
There are regions, where the KDU-CSL does not have good results, while STAN is successful, and there are not many regions where the two parties overlap. Cooperation in the coalition may have a synergic effect, Outly said.
ms/dr
