Current Affairs Administrative blunder knocks Freedom Union out of regional elections in Karlovy Vary
The election campaign to this November's regional and Senate elections is now in full swing and the three parties of the Czech governing coalition are determined to improve their reputation following their humiliating defeat in the Euro elections this summer. However candidates for the right wing Freedom Union in the west Bohemian town of Karlovy Vary are ready to quit even before the elections have got underway.
Karlovy Vary
Some mistakes are of the kind that come back to haunt you in your dreams
for years. For Lucie Simova, the manager of the Freedom Union's office in
Karlovy Vary, August 30th is a day that will remain firmly etched in her
mind. She single-handedly dashed any hopes Freedom Union candidates may
have harboured of winning posts in the Karlovy Vary regional elections
when in a moment of absent-mindedness, she handed in the official list of
candidates to the wrong institution - the Office of Karlovy Vary road
management instead of the Regional Administration Office located just 100
metres away. The Freedom Union thus missed the deadline by which all
parties had to enter their list of candidates to the elections.
"I regret to say that due to a human failing the Freedom Union will
not be able to compete in regional elections in Karlovy Vary" the
party's chairman for the Karlovy Vary region told the media. The person
responsible for this costly blunder was his own wife, who immediately
resigned from her post.
Left watching from the sidelines, the party's candidates are trying hard
not to cry over spilt milk. "What's done is done," senator Jan
Hadrava told the media, adding that he was sorry for the lost potential.
There is a small chink of light at the end of the tunnel - the party will
try to get an exemption from the official deadline from the regional
court, on the grounds that the entire party should not be made to suffer
for the fault of one administrative worker. However, the hopes of clemency
are minimal - and party officials are the first to admit that rules are
made to be observed.
