Prague, June 3 (CTK) – Two million seniors over 65 years may decide on the results of the October 20-21 general election in the Czech Republic and this is why political parties focus on them in their campaigns, daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) writes today.
It points out that votes of the elderly were decisive in the U.S. presidential election in which it helped Donald Trump win and in the referendum on Brexit.
Czechs will probably also experience the consequences of different voter preferences in various age groups in the election to the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of parliament, this year when the number of people over 65 is to exceed two million in the country with a population of 10.5 million, MfD says.
Moreover, it adds, election turnout is usually very high in this group of voters.
The parties are aware of this. However, they cannot use selfies, videos on YouTube and slogans of social networks to address elderly voters, but only a personal contact, a door-to-door campaign, is efficient.
One of the ways to appeal these voters is to establish party clubs for senior citizens, MfD says.
After the Social Democrats (CSSD) and the Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL), the ANO movement of Andrej Babis, the third government coalition party, has founded its senior club recently since the number of ANO supporters among the elderly has been rising in the past years.
“This is not an ANO club. Membership of the movement is not a condition. This is a platform to work next to ANO. We want to address our supporters since we have some in the older generation as well,” Central Bohemia Regional Governor Jaroslava Jermanova, who is in charge of the club, told MfD.
The CSSD has tried to get the elderly involved in the party structures for years. Its senior club was established soon after the collapse of the communist regime in 1989 and it has some 1300 members now, MfD writes.
“Every CSSD member who turns 60 can become a member of our senior club,” CSSD spokesman Mikulas Klang said.
Seniors cooperate with CSSD election manager Jan Birke and participate in the party’s election campaign, club head Petr Kolman said.
MfD adds that the CSSD senior club deputy chairman is Jan Kavan, 70, former foreign minister in the CSSD government of Milos Zeman (1998-2002).
The Christian Democrats have also managed to connect the party with with a senior club in the past few years. Though the Association of Christian Seniors with 1500 members is only loosely related to the KDU-CSL, its chairman Vaclav Roubal, 90, is a KDU-CSL member and he spoke at the party’s recent election congress, MfD writes.
“We received a strong support from the KDU-CSL. Thanks to it, we have a place to meet and an office,” Roubal told MfD.
The paper writes that many seniors are faithful voters of the left wing. Besides, the elderly go to elections most often of all voter groups.
“In view of the absolute number of people who participate in elections, the oldest generation is of key importance,” sociologist Jan Herzmann said.
ANO has scored success in attracting elderly voters in the past few months. A Median poll shows that support for ANO has been rising among voters over 60.
“Babis has attracted the older generation by promising that he will make order. This generation wants certainty and stability mainly in the social sphere which both the left wing and Babis offer. However, seniors feel a strong personality in Babis whom they follow. The older generation in general tends to vote for strong personalities. However, the CSSD does not have any now,” Herzmann told MfD.
Daily Lidove noviny (LN) also writes about a rising importance of the generation that has achieved the retirement age.
These people are becoming a required labour force since the unemployment rate in the Czech Republic is record low and firms are short of qualified people. This is why they welcome experienced elderly people.
LN says some 356,000 people over 60 work in the Czech Republic.
Experts agree that this figure could be higher. The share of working pensioners in the country is below the EU average.
In view of the population ageing, a higher employment of the elderly will be inevitable and the state should start taking measures, including tax reliefs, to attract them to the labour market, LN adds.
