Prague, July 17 (CTK) – It is important for democratic forces to prevail in the Czech Senate elections so that the upper house of parliament remains a watchdog of constitutionality, Christian Democrat (KDU-CSL) leader Pavel Belobradek said after a meeting of the party leadership discussing the election plans on Tuesday.
In the October elections, one third (27) of the Senate’s 81 seats will be contested.
The centrist KDU-CSL will field its candidates in 13 wards, while it has agreed on supporting other parties’ candidates in the remaining 14 wards.
The party’s election motto is “We will not yield the Senate to them.”
Belobradek is running for the Senate seat in the Nachod ward, east Bohemia.
In the Prague 8 ward, the party has fielded interpreter and translator Hayato Okamura, brother of Tomio Okamura, lower house deputy chairman and controversial leader of the far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) movement.
“By no means will the KDU-CSL vacate the space for authoritarian and non-democratic forces,” Hayato Okamura said.
He said he wants to do his best for democracy, peace and safety to be preserved for Czech citizens in the next decade.
Belobradek earlier said that the KDU-CSL wants to become the strongest group in the Senate.
At present, the Social Democrats (CSSD) are the strongest with 24 seats, out of which, however, 13 will be contested in the autumn elections.
The KDU-CSL group is the second strongest now, with 16 members. Three of its seats will be contested.
