Kladno, Central Bohemia, May 19 (CTK) – The Social Democrat (CSSD) regional branch in Central Bohemia, which was headed by new party leader Jan Hamacek, supports the CSSD’s entry into a coalition government with ANO of PM Andrej Babis, CSSD spokesman Peter Vurbs told CTK on Saturday.
Out of the 124 delegates, 111 were for the CSSD’s government participation, six were against it and seven abstained from the vote at the regional conference on Saturday.
All CSSD members will decide whether the party will join Babis’s second cabinet, supported by the Communists (KSCM), in an internal referendum that started on Monday.
“The Central Bohemian CSSD appreciated the agreement negotiated by chairman Jan Hamacek and expressed full support for him. The deal is an opportunity for the Czech Republic to have a stable and functioning government and a clear opportunity for the CSSD to fulfil its Social Democratic programme,” Vurbs said.
Robin Povsik was elected the new CSSD regional branch head, replacing Hamacek, by the votes of 85 percent of the candidates to the conference in Kladno on Saturday.
Povsik proposed the resolution that the organisation approved later.
Unlike the Social Democrats in Central Bohemia, the CSSD organisation in the Usti Region, north Bohemia, did not recommend that its members vote for the CSSD’ participation in the nascent government with ANO. The Usti organisation is of the view that this would not benefit the party, organisation chairman Miroslav Andrt said.
The CSSD leadership presented the candidates for ministers in the ANO-CSSD government on Friday.
MEP Miroslav Poche is to become the foreign affairs minister, which President Milos Zeman opposes, however. Hamacek is to head the Interior Ministry as expected. Former political deputy minister Petr Krcala may head the Labour and Social Affairs Ministry, Miroslav Toman, president of the Food Chamber, is to be the agriculture minister and Olomouc Mayor Antonin Stanek the culture minister.
