Archive: Domestic affairs | Political parties Political parties
Government wins confidence but its position weakens
The Czech government has survived a vote of confidence in the lower house
of Parliament. On Friday, 105 out of 198 deputies voted in its support. The
vote revealed that besides the Civic Democrat and TOP 09 parties, the
cabinet can also rely on those deputies who quit the Public Affairs party,
and at least three MPs who remained members of the former junior coalition
partner, which now sees itself as “constructive opposition”. But
despite the safe majority in the lower house, the centre-right cabinet
might now find it harder to push through some of its reforms bills,
according to analyst Jiří Pehe. More
Head of STEM polling agency: Czechs are ashamed of their politicians
Half-way through the government’s term in office Czechs are so fed up
with political infighting and corruption scandals that 80 percent of them
now support early elections. For this week’s Panorama I spoke to Jan
Hartl head of the STEM polling agency about the mood of the public, what
people think of Czech politicians and whether the developments of the past
few months have robbed them of any illusions they may have had regarding
politics. More
Karolína Peake says her new political force is here to stay
Just two years ago the name Karolína Peake was known to few people outside
of the issue of playgrounds in Prague 1. Today she’s the keystone in the
fractured coalition government. Last week, the 36-year-old deputy prime
minister caused an upheaval in the government when she abandoned the junior
coalition party Public Affairs, of which she has been a member since 2007,
and took eight of the party’s MPs with her. The result of the split has
been the departure of Public Affairs from government to the opposition, and
a wafer-thin majority in Parliament for the centre-right reform parties.
That majority is based entirely on the newly emerging party around Mrs.
Peake, which at present can only be called the Public Affairs defectors. Is
this the start of a new political organisation with long-term goals, or a
quick fix intended to allow the government to ride out the next two years,
that’s the first question we put to Karolína Peake on Thursday. More
Centre-right coalition faces confidence vote following departure of Public Affairs
The ruling coalition that won an unprecedented majority in the last
elections is a thing of the past. On Tuesday, the Public Affairs party,
decimated by the recent departure of a number of former members, left the
government. The centre-right cabinet now faces a vote of confidence to test
the strength of its support in the lower house. More
Political analyst: centre-right parties may self-destruct
Although opinion polls indicate that the vast majority of Czechs would like
to see early elections, embattled Prime Minister Petr Nečas has decided to
try and weather the latest crisis and will ask the lower house for a vote
of confidence in his government on Friday. Amidst speculation that he may
end up with a razor sharp majority, political analysts are questioning the
wisdom of trying to hold onto power at any cost. Radio Prague spoke to
Jiři Pehe about the repercussions this might have but - first and foremost
- the legitimacy of this new political set-up. More
Czech government’s future remains uncertain after party split
The fate of the centre-right Czech government hangs in the balance after
the junior coalition party Public Affairs split up, robbing the government
of its comfortable majority in the lower house. The newly emerging
pro-government faction around defector Karolína Peake is now trying to
rally enough deputies to secure a viable majority in the lower house, but
the key players on the Czech political scene are already preparing for
early elections. More
Peake quits Public Affairs
Influential politician Karolína Peake dropped a political bombshell late
Tuesday when she announced that she was leaving the smallest party in
government to found a new faction. The move has cast doubt on whether the
centre-right coalition still has a majority in the lower house needed to
govern. More
Pundit: Public Affairs has no future with or without Vít Bárta
The leadership of the junior coalition party Public Affairs is meeting to
debate the outcome of last week’s trial in which the party’s informal
leader Vít Bárta was found guilty of bribery. Although Mr. Bárta had
promised to pull out of high politics if he did not clear his name, he now
says he’ll keep his seat in the lower house and he thus remains a member
of the party’s deputies’ club. Radio Prague asked commentator Jiří
Pehe for his thoughts on how this latest development may impact the
government’s future and who is now actually running the smallest party in
government. More
Pirate Parties in Prague set sails for Europe-wide political success
Cue: Pirates of the World, Unite! – that was the message at this
weekend’s Pirate Party International meeting in Prague, the third in the
organisation’s history and the first in the Czech capital. What started
as a Swedish protest movement against the criminalisation of file-sharing
has grown into a tangible political body, setting its sights on
continent-wide success in the 2014 European Parliament elections. More
Czech MPs Bárta, Škárka sentenced in bribery case
A Prague court on Friday delivered a verdict in one of the most
high-profile cases in recent years. The court found the unofficial leader
of the coalition Public Affairs party guilty of bribery, and fellow MP and
former Public Affairs chair of fraud. The case also highlighted the shady
practices within the Public Affairs party which has been behind a series of
government crises. More
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