Prague, July 18 (CTK) – The renewed Civic Democratic Alliance (ODA) will run in the forthcoming general election in all Czech regions together with the For Health and Sport movement, its leader, billionaire Pavel Sehnal, has said.
For Health and Sport chairman Zdenek Kubec confirmed the information.
The regional leaders of the political alliance are to be presented in August, the two groupings said in a press release.
In the Czech election system, two-party coalitions need to win at least 10 percent of the vote to enter parliament, while the threshold for single parties is 5 percent. As a result, political groupings mostly formally run as a single party. This is also the case of the ODA and For Health and Sport, neither of which play any major role on the Czech political scene now.
The ODA was a right-wing party that took part in Czech government coalitions in the 1990s, but then became marginalised and ended its existence in 2007. Sehnal’s project has no connection with this former party. He can use the ODA brand as it was not protected by copyright.
Sehnal said the new ODA wants to promote a right-wing programme for businesspeople.
The ODA wants to primarily focus on the local elections to be held next year. It wants to lower the corporate income tax, remove the system of subsidies and launch the process of the euro adoption in the country.
Sehnal said the ODA and For Health and Sport had similar programmes, such as efficient health care focusing on prevention, and support for sport activities of all age groups.
He said sport is one of the main issues of ODA’s presidential candidate Vratislav Kulhanek, former chairman of the Skoda Auto car maker’s board.
In the past, Kulhanek headed the Czech Ice Hockey Association and worked in the Czech Olympic Committee.
