Prague, March 23 (CTK) – The formation of an election coalition of the junior ruling Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) and the opposition Mayors and Independents (STAN) movement will help prevent the ANO movement from gaining control of Czech politics, KDU-CSL head Pavel Belobradek wrote to party members on Thursday.
Belobradek wrote that a big victory of Finance Minister Andrej Babis’s ANO would threaten politics based on consensus.
The KDU-CDSL and STAN agreed on forming an election coalition before the October general election at a meeting of their senior officials last weekend. The KDU-CSL national conference approved the decision after the meeting, STAN is yet to approve it at its congress on Saturday.
Some in the KDU-CSL criticise the party leadership for not sufficiently explaining the ooalition project to the rank and file.
Belobradek wrote that the coalition follows up the KDU-CSL and STAN’s cooperation in the Senate and in the European Parliament (EP).
Both entities are members of the European People’s Party in the EP.
“Our alliance has its logic. We will be stronger in the long-term defence and assertion of our values,” Belobradek wrote.
At present, the pushing through of values means an effort to prevent ANO from dominating the Czech political scene.
At the same time Belobradek wrote that the coalition does not only mean “setting ourselves apart against” Babis.
“We know the situation at a time when the Civic Democrats (ODS, now in opposition) or the (senior government) Social Democrats (CSSD) controlled politics,” Belobradek wrote.
“Our practical policy is based on prevention of all extremes and concentration of power in the hands of one party,” Belobradek wrote.
