Prague, March 25 (CTK) – The Mayors and Independents (STAN) movement wants to run in the Czech October general election in a coalition with the Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL), a crushing majority of the delegates to its congress decided Saturday, election commission chairman Zdenek Hovezak (STAN) has said.
The coalition was supported by 101 out of 116 voting delegates or 86 percent.
The junior government Christian Democrats decided about a joint candidature a week ago when 39 delegates to their national conference voted for it and 31 were against.
STAN chairman Petr Gazdik said the coalition would have the same programme, name and logo.
“In this connection, I can see the opportunity to create a force that will be an alternative to the parties that dominate the political scene,” Gazdik, who was re-elected Saturday, said.
He called the STAN-KDU-CSL coalition a third force.
According to opinion polls, the ANO movement is the election favourite, followed by the Social Democrats (CSSD). Both parties along with the KDU-CSL form the current centre-left government coalition.
Gazdik said STAN and the Christian Democrats can jointly gain ten more seats in the Chamber of Deputies than as individual entities together.
The coalition of STAN and the KDU-CSL needs to gain at least 10 percent of the vote to enter the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of parliament, while individiual parties only 5 percent. According to the latest CVVM poll, 6.5 percent would vote for the KDU-CSL, and 1 percent for STAN.
However, Gazdik said he was convinced that STAN would enter the lower house even if it were running independently.
Until last year, STAN cooperated with the opposition right-wing TOP 09.
Gazdik said the partnership with TOP 09 cannot be compared with the current election coalition. A coalition should have a joint election platform, he added.
The Christian Democrats would have election leaders in eight regions, while STAN in six. In total, STAN will will 40 percent of places and the KDU-CSL 60 percent on the candidates’ lists.
They will share the election costs put at some 50 million crowns in the same way – STAN will cover 20 million and the KDU-CSL 30 million.
Regional organisations will decide on the names of candidates. If they did not reach consensus, negotiating teams and the parties’ leaderships would settle the dispute.
Before the vote at the STAN congress Saturday, KDU-CSL chairman Pavel Belobradek said the joint coalition would run in the October election with “99.9 percent” probability.
However, some Christian Democrats in the regions, mainly in Moravia, have expressed doubts about this alliance, according to a CTK poll among KDU-CSL members.
STAN has defined ten programme priorities at the congress, including the strengthening of powers of self-rule authorities. It says towns and villages should again decide on welfare benefits that are now paid by the state and its labour offices.
The movement also promotes the public administration computerisation and interconnection of registers as well as the possibility of electronic voting.
STAN wants to increase defence expenditures and modernise the military. It says the tax system should be revised and social and health insurance payments decreased.
The STAN programme counts with healthcare and pension reforms, on which a broad political spectrum should agree, and the environmental protection.
Besides, the movement would like to raise spending on the education system, in particular teachers’ salaries, and interconnect schools with employers. The motorway and railway networks must be completed, the STAN delegates agreed.
