Prague, Feb 9 (CTK) – The Czech opposition Mayors and Independents (STAN) movement agreed yesterday that it will negotiate with the junior government Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) about the creation of a coalition for the October general election, STAN head Petr Gazdik has announced.
The decision was approved by 81 percent of the delegates to STAN’s national assembly.
The two-party coalition will need at least 10 percent of the vote. If each party was running on its own in the election, it would only need 5 percent voter support.
The KDU-CSL leadership praised STAN’s decision and said the new coalition can offer voters a strong and democratic alternative.
Gazdik said he does not consider the 10 percent parliamentary barrier an obstacle to the coalition’s success.
“We do not fear the 10 percent barrier because five or six percent of the mandates are definitely not enough if we want to change something in our country,” Gazdik said.
STAN deputy chairman Vit Rakusan said “we believe that if the coalition with the KDU-CSL is formed, we will become the third significant force in the political spectrum and a significant alternative to the policy of Social Democrats (CSSD) and the ANO movement.”
“I welcome STAN’s decision. Now, we must together tune-up the programme and technical details so that we can apply all forces and strive for an election victory. We will ofer voters a strong, democratic and uncorrupt alternative,” KDU-CSL chairman Pavel Belobradek messaged.
Gazdik said the coalition’s programme should focus on support for pro-western democracy and the pushing through of decentralisation of the state administration.
The coalition should bring strong personalities to its lists of candidates, he added.
STAN wants to start debating joint programme priorities immediately so that its assembly can discuss it in March.
“I welcome this decision, I am looking forward to our cooperation which offers people in the Czech Republic a policy that represents the traditional values. Our programmes are close and we have already been cooperating in many cases on the local, regional, Senate and European levels. We offer people who have done something, no marketing faces or people with a dubious past both in politics and business. It is a daring decision, but it is clear and legible to voters,” Marian Jurecka, KDU-CSL first deputy chairman, SMSed CTK.
Election cooperation between the KDU-CSL and STAN, which ended a tight alliance with the rightist TOP 09, now in opposition, last December, has been talked about for several months.
There were several variants of the two parties’ cooperation.
The KDU-CSL agreed at the weekend that it would like to form an election coalition with STAN.
