The least crucial of the Czech elections is behind us, so it is time to look at what pearls of intellect we will send to Brussels to represent – in a balanced and dignified way – our country towards European allies.
When we talk about electoral campaigns and issues discussed on their occasion, it is worth keeping in head a fewer things. First of all, the average Czech Republic has no thought what the fact that factions are in the European Parliament, and mostly shares the general view of the EU as a cloud of nameless officials who are trying hard to ruin everything that is good and decent in the Czech way of life – and this is by changing labels on high-quality products only to confuse us (as rum does not make potatoes?) and it is by threatening us with misty green changes in the economy or with a prompt order for us to adopt billions of wrongly-pigmented immigrants in our homes.
The elections to Europarlamento so concern everything, but not the Europarlamento itself, and any change of power and arrangement of forces in this is simply a work of chance. The elections, on the another hand, fulfil the following 2 functions: firstly, they are a general test before national elections, where parties can check which strategies work and which do not. Secondly, they are a competition for the popularity of fresh faces in politics, which allows to decide who is worth promoting in politics.
Coalition jigsaw puzzle
The first 2 seats did not surprise anyone who even had a brief look at Czech politics in the last 5 years. all coalition ruling in all kinds of political plebiscites stands in a losing position, as the public is diligently following all its faults. At the same time, the current government, under the direction of the right-wing conservative glut SKLU ("Together") is simply a disaster even for Czech standards. The fact that SPOLU managed to land in second place most likely has nothing to do with the ideology they preach, or even more so – and where else! – with the affirmative effects of their actions. SPOLU is based on the fact that Euro-elections vote mainly for middle-class voters, i.e. people who have time and energy to worry about politics at least adequate to fight for their own privileges.
Another origin that has most likely played a function here is that despite its smoldering-God regulation of POLU it inactive appears to be the only though a reasonable alternate to the populist flood. It was definitely not about the values that the organization professed, due to the fact that POLU is an internally contradictory ideological mess. erstwhile voting for them, they voted for fossil fuels, the pre- Flood homophobe Vondra, the comparatively progressive-green Niedermayer, and the pathological liar and the slimy Catholic Zdechowski – everyone just got their tickets again. The only thing that this coalition agrees about is that the rich should get rich – it was adequate to supply it in election second place.
The winner and winner of as many as 7 mandates remains the billionaire ANO project, which has consistently proved for thirteen years that in order to accomplish success in Czech politics, there is no request to have any ideals or values. erstwhile Prime Minister Andrej Babiš is not popular in Europe, but his universal PR is definitely effective in the Czech Republic itself – last year Babiš became a podcaster, influencer and Fashion icon.
By pouring out the endless stream of nationalist gibberish and terrible news about immigrants (his favourite trick is to fuel anti-Ukrainian sentiments), he yet contributed to providing a place in Europarlamenta for the erstwhile minister Klára Dostálová and Jaroslava Pokorna Jermanová, known as being the most corrupt politician of the regional level, paying the loyal subordinates for activities specified as “monitoring the music festival” and “analysing the Christmas customs”. I can't wait to see what I'm gonna do in Brussels.
Surprise with swastika
The European evil lies on our cars, and only 1 organization is ready to deal with it: a niche political movement of motorists that nobody has always taken seriously before, and here, unexpectedly, he has become the winner of the 3rd place in the election. This success is due to the union with the somewhat little niche organization of Přísah (the "Promise"), under the leadership of the erstwhile police chief, who is distinguished by the complete inability to realize the presumption of innocence.
The abrupt increase in popularity was mainly due to Philip Turk, a erstwhile rally driver of a medical fraud and influencer who, like a storm, entered social media salons. His another hobbies include cars, women, denial of climate change and Collecting Nazi bibelots, kindly mentioning Hitler and promoting neo-Nazi symbols.
Turk's success can be explained by his extraordinary ability to summon Good old days.When you didn't gotta worry about any "isms" erstwhile being a racist asshole was part of the label, and toxic sewage poured into rivers and lakes and nobody bothered. In short, it came to us straight from the 1990s, and it worked – with a large deal of aid from a legitimate concern about the future of regions dependent on the production of spare parts for the automotive industry.
Conservative nationalism has besides paid off the party, which yet has free itself of any appearance of caring for social welfare – the communists have joined an eclectic mix of political freaks and outcasts from another parties who have created a alternatively inconsistent group called Stačilo! (Enough!). The set of anti-ecological, anti-immigrant and anti-Ukrainian slogans yet brought them 2 parliamentary mandates, 1 for the leader of the Communists Kateřina Konečnej, the another for Ondřej Dostál, a erstwhile candidate of the Pirate organization for the Minister of Health, for which he was qualified to believe that vaccination was ineffective.
Losers
The remaining parties in the government and parliament have taken a hell of a beating. The centre-right STAND (Mayors and Independents, i.e. specified “SPOLU without sugar”) gained 2 mandates for politicians who failed to accomplish absolutely nothing on the national stage. The Liberal-Right Pirates someway gained 1 ticket, most likely thanks to their fruitless and light performances in government and a truly disgusting campaign, based on comedy sketches that would not be comic in the 1950s, with 1 of the candidates He was marked as Jesus (to be precise, this peculiar painting had small to do with religion, but he recalled a popular series of children's films, whose director, apart from being a patented bastard, has now become besides Buckwheat).
The good news is that the only candidate of the Pirates who managed to slip through is Markéta Gregorová, with a good light which is considered somewhat left-wing.
A bit more amazing was the failure of the parliamentary alt-right SPD, pioneers of rhetoric utilized by alleged protest parties who succeeded. 1 possible explanation is that although the organization is presently in opposition, it is seen as part of the establishment, especially since its presence on the Czech political scene is highly noticeable. We'll see if they take this informing to heart through the next election, due to the fact that all this rage and screaming makes a lot little impression erstwhile everyone yells at each other.
The results of the last 2 leftist parties present in the mainstream public awareness are sad, although they were inevitable: even though the Greens, outside the standard set of environmental issues, besides presented a modern, progressive equality programme and taxation proposals, they failed to get any parliamentary mandate. They must have been happy to have exceeded the threshold of 1 percent of the vote, so that they were eligible for financial support.
Similar results were achieved by erstwhile strong social democrats, with a decisively different electoral strategy, in which they tried to make against all this modern liberal nonsense – ecology, sex equality or human rights, while trying to catch a already crowded nationalist cart. Their interesting demands on wages and the regulation of business activities were mostly considered dishonest. A shot at the ft may besides have been a choice on the face of a policy run moving since the 1990s. – Finally, the Social Democrats have consistently demonstrated their almost childish desire to return to a time erstwhile they had the power or any crucial influence on politics.
Damage
The results of the European elections show a decisive shift towards the (sometimes extreme) right, and the recently elected representatives will not change the distribution of forces in factions and existing alliances. Even a devotee of the Nazi Turk reported a willingness joining European Conservatives and ReformistsWhich can give him a seat right next to the high-profile right-wing assholes we've been sending to Brussels for years.
It's more interesting where the winning ANO lands. Now close to the faction Let us renew Europe, but voices from within the Europarlamento have already expressed their discontent with the departure of ANO as a group, as well as Andrei Babiš personally, from liberal policies and values. 7 ANO representatives surely have the possible to somewhat influence the distribution of power.
It is most likely besides early in the Czech Republic to find whether the results of the Euro-elections have changed anything. Christian Democrats debate a change of leader, although it most likely does not substance whether it is due to insufficient results of their candidates in the framework of the POLU or interior competitions – due to the fact that it cannot be that we are talking about the worst minister of labour and social policy since 2012. In the current political climate, this organization can hold any influence on politics only as part of the SPOLU.
As for more liberal parties, the results of the election confirm the long-term decline. For the left, the elections were another completely unsuccessful effort to resurrect her. Although the comparative success of the Stačilo party! It seems that the only way out is to sacrifice all values in order to implement any part of left-wing demands, this would, at best, lead to a replay of the Slovak scenario, where the nominally social democratic organization has provided itself and maintains power, without any shame spreading hatred and allowing corruption. Sometimes it's better to lose.
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From English she translated Catherine the Formers.
