Prague, Nov 27 (CTK) – The Pirate Party, a newcomer to Czech parliament, will elect its new leadership in early January with Ivan Bartos defending the post of chairman, the party’s spokeswoman Karolina Sadilkova told media on Monday.
According to the party’s statutes, an election of the Pirates’ five-member national board has to take place within three months following a general election.
“From my point of view, it is of crucial importance for the party chairperson to be a member of the Chamber of Deputies, for both practical and pragmatic reasons, since parties’ chairpersons have the preferential right to address plenary sessions,” Bartos wrote in a press release.
He wrote he has asked his home Pirate branch in Liberec, north Bohemia, to support his nomination for chairman, and plans to seek support from other branches as well.
Apart from Bartos, the party’s current board is comprised of Vojtech Pikal, who was elected lower house deputy chairman on Friday, Jakub Michalek, who heads the Pirates’ group in the house, deputy Mikulas Peksa and Martin Smida.
A meeting of the Pirates’ national forum has been convoked to Brno for the first weekend in January.
All members of the party can take part in its national forum that is mostly held online but its meeting has to be convoked once a year at least, according to the party’s statutes.
These meetings elect the party leadership and take crucial votes such as on changes to the statutes.
In the October 20-21 general election, the Pirates finished third with 10.8 percent of the vote and 22 seats in the 200-seat Chamber of Deputies.
They said they would not join the nascent one-colour government of ANO, the election winner, and would prefer work in opposition.
