Prague, Oct 6 (CTK) – Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka will be defending his post of the Social Democrat (CSSD) chairman at the party’s congress in March and he is prepared for having rival candidates, he said in an interview with CTK on Thursday.
The CSSD will be selecting its presidential candidate after the congress, he added.
“I am prepared to be defending the post of the party chairman and the whole CSSD leadership will have to defend their positions, too,” Sobotka said.
He, at the same time, outlined his idea of the CSSD’s priorities in the future.
“I would like us to more focus on environment protection and to deal with the culture sphere as well as the issues connected with digitisation, including the parametres of services in the virtual environment where a number of younger voters are moving now,” Sobotka told CTK.
He said he was prepared for rival candidates in the election of the party leader.
In this connection, he mentioned the “unfair Lany coup,” a failed attempt of some high-ranking Social Democrats (CSSD), supported by President Milos Zeman, to topple him after the 2013 general election.
“However, it is normal that the chairman is criticised in a political party if it is democratic. It is normal and not unacceptable at all that the party chairman has rival candidates during the vote,” Sobotka said, adding that the CSSD, unlike the government ANO movement of Andrej Babis, is not a one-man party.
The CSSD congress will not debate a presidential candidate for the election due in early 2018, and the party will deal with it only afterwards.
The Social Democrats have not yet decided on the way of selecting their presidential candidate.
Sobotka said he could imagine all party members to vote on whom the CSSD would support or directly nominate for a presidential election.
