Prague, Aug 2 (CTK) – Pavel Belobradek, will resign as Czech junior government Christian Democrat (KDU-CSL) chairman if the party’s result in the October 20-21 general election is worse than its gain in the previous election four years ago, the Euro server quoted him as saying today.
In 2013, the centrist KDU-CSL gained 6.78 percent of the vote and eventually formed a centre-left cabinet with the Social Democrats (CSSD) and the ANO movement.
According to an election model the STEM agency released in July, the KDU-CSL would gain 6.7 percent of the vote now.
Another model, released by the CVVM agency, ascribed a 7.5-percent gain to the KDU-CSL in June.
Belobradek told Euro that he would immediately resign as KDU-CSL chairman if the party’s election gain were lower than in 2013.
“This is a matter of course in decent society… This (resignation) is expectable within a political culture,” Belobradek said.
In the past week, the KDU-CSL presented its new election campaign it had to prepare after it broke with the Mayors and Independents (STAN), an opposition movement with which it originally wanted to run in an election coalition.
Public opinion polls showed that the KDU-CSL/STAN coalition might not gain the 10 percent of the vote, which is a parliament threshold set for a two-party coalition.
Running on its own, the KDU-CSL has the ambition to gain seven to nine percent of the vote.
“I will consider each vote we may gain in addition to our previous result a success. In each of the elections that were held under my leadership in the past seven years, the KDU-CSL’s result was always better than previously,” Belobradek said.
In May, Belobradek, 40, was re-elected KDU-CSL chairman for the fourth time, being supported by 84 percent of the delegates to the party congress and defeating a rival candidate, Zlin Region Governor and senator Jiri Cunek, in a secret ballot.
The KDU-CSL has 14 seats in the 200-seat Chamber of Deputies and three seats in the 17-member government, Belobradek being deputy prime minister in charge of science, research and development.
rtj/dr/kva
