Prague, Nov 9 (CTK) – Members of the Czech Chamber of Deputies for Pirates will vote again on whether to support Radek Vondracek (ANO) as chairman of the lower house, party leader Ivan Bartos told journalists after the talks with ANO on Thursday.
The Pirates are reluctant to be in the same bloc along with the Communists (KSCM) and the populist Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD), Bartos said.
At the latest meeting of their deputy group, the Pirates backed Vondracek, current lower house deputy head, because he has experience with heading the Chamber of Deputies and they dismissed the candidacy of Petr Fiala, leader of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS).
“Since then, the situation has considerably changed. If there is a bloc in which ANO has a certain support (of KSCM and SPD), we said in our post-election strategy that they are not our partners,” Bartos said.
Bartos said by backing Vondracek, the Pirates had wanted to facilitate the constitution of the Chamber of Deputies.
However, after ANO evidently gained the votes of the SPD and Communists, the Pirates’ mandates are no longer needed, he added.
After the meeting, the Pirates reiterated that they were interested in the post of head of the security committee in the Chamber of Deputies. However, ANO has evidently promised it to the SPD, headed by Tomio Okamura.
The Pirates are also interested in the civil service committee, which covers digitation, and the environment committee.
Judging by positive reactions of ANO officials, the Pirates might head the latter two committees.
The Pirates also said on Thursday they wanted to be a constructive opposition, insisting on their priorities in the agenda of the minority government and drafting their own legislation.
President Milos Zeman has empowered ANO leader Andrej Babis with the talks on forming a government. As the rest of the parties are reluctant to enter a coalition government with the election-winning ANO, a minority government has been suggested.
ANO won the October general election with 29.6 percent of the vote, followed by the ODS with 11.3 percent and the third Pirates with 10.8 percent of the votes.
