Prague, July 1 (CTK) – The Czech Communist Party (KSCM) has never been so close to the rule of the country as now, political scientist Kamil Svec told CTK, referring to the country’s post-Communist era starting.
“They (Communists) did not miss this opportunity. They in fact voted also on themselves, not only on ANO and the CSSD,” Svec said.
On Saturday, the KSCM central committee decided that it would support the minority government of the ANO movement and the Social Democrats (CSSD) which was appointed last Wednesday.
After the 1989 Velvet Revolution, the KSCM never participated in the central government. It was rather isolated for some time, but now it takes part in regional self-rule bodies.
Svec said the KSCM was expected to confirm that it would back the new government of Andrej Babis (ANO). He said President Milos Zeman also wanted this government to be formed and the Communists complied with his request.
Svec said the KSCM did not just decide ton leaving the room during the confidence room in the Chamber of Deputies to lower the number of votes the government needs to win because this would not be enough but they promised to vote for the government themselves.
ANO has 78, the CSSD 15 and the KSCM 15 seats in the 200-seat Chamber.
Political scientist Vladimira Dvorakova told CTK that the Communists had previously played a key role when Vaclav Klaus was elected president by the two houses of parliament. “They have already been incorporated into the system once,” she said.
Dvorakova said the decision to back the Babis cabinet reinforced the position of long-standing party leader Vojtech Filip who was in a difficult situation after the general election in which the party failed. However, thanks to its support for the government, the rather small Communist lower house group will become far more important, she said.
Generally speaking, it is not good when a party is legally operating in parliament for a long but it is excluded from possible coalitions, Dvorakova said. Due to this situation, other parties do not have an alternative to possible coalitions, which harms the political system, she added.
Svec said it is highly probable that Babis’s second government will win the confidence vote, unlike his first government, which failed to win it in January.
Complications may appear in connection with the Foreign Ministry, as Zeman rejected to appoint CSSD candidate Miroslav Poche, or the Justice Ministry, if the challenging of the qualities of the new minister, Tatana Mala (ANO), continued, Svec said.
He said the government relying on the Communists would have a primarily symbolic impact on the political system. “Symbols are important from the point of view of the political system. On the other hand, one cannot expect that it would bring any fatal consequences for the political system,” he added.
The Communist Party is getting into an important position, although it has not undergone any major reform since 1989, Svec said.
