Political parties are betting on meeting citizens before elections. So far, Babiš's ANO is leading with a significant lead.
In the autumn, the Czech Republic awaits parliamentary elections. What are the individual political groups offering and how are they trying to convince us? And who has hope that they will form the next government?
We can be assured on a daily basis that everyone understands football and politics through discussions on social media. However, who will really govern us in the coming years will be decided primarily by the parliamentary elections, which will take place in less than four months.
Andrej Babiš's Populism is Successful
The main favorite is Andrej Babiš's ANO movement. Yet, paradoxically, it remains one of the few players who has not yet officially presented the program with which they will compete for the votes of the electorate. In recent days, we have only learned that they will "provide cheap energy, increase pension indexing, support the construction of new apartments, increase salaries for soldiers, police officers, firefighters, and teachers, and return some tax relief, such as the discount for a child in kindergarten".
However, in a time when the state budget is falling into multi-billion deficits, where the new government will get the money, the voter is not yet finding out. Babiš's supporters are evidently not worried about this at the meetings that his team has been holding for several weeks. Unfortunately, we also won't find out from the billboards on which the chairman tells us that he stands on the side of the Czech Republic. And the movement did not provide any comment to us on questions related to the pre-election campaign and topics that are key to ANO by the editorial deadline.
Tomio Okamura's SPD movement has decided to cooperate with Trikolóra, Svobodní and the group PRO Jindřich Rajchl. In a press release in connection with this, they talk about wanting to unite patriotic forces to become a "decisive political force that will return power to the people." In the campaign, they also address the public through the Czech fairs, where people can buy food at low, i.e. subsidized, prices. It is spicy that they are allegedly also products from Babiš's Agrofert conglomerate.
Spolu and Starostové want continuity
The Spolu coalition is currently betting on a series of discussions with Prime Minister Petr Fiala and regional leaders in roughly 200 cities, a billboard campaign and online communication. In addition to the comments on the case of former Minister of Justice Pavel Blažek, the coalition is striving to convince the public that its prime concern is long-term economic prosperity and state stability. To that end, some local artists, such as actors Iva Pazderková or Michal Novotný, are helping them.
Mayors and independents, who again chose Vít Rakušan as their leader in May, plan to introduce the euro, develop and modernize the armed forces, strengthen recruitment of new police officers, or balance differences between regions. They also plan targeted support for vulnerable groups that are unable to solve their housing situation.
Rebels
Under the leadership of Zdeněk Hřib, the Pirates present themselves with the motto "Let's kick it off". According to them, it is not possible to wait until old structures bring new solutions and things change by themselves.
"At a time when Trump and Putin are undermining our security and the prices of all basic matters are rising, we cannot rely on the parties full of old structures will bring the much-needed changes,"
Hřib stated for LP-Life.
In the regions, they meet with citizens through a series of excursions called Where Home Tour. British political strategist Paul Hilder, who builds the team on data and analysis, is helping them with the campaign.
The communists, who are running under the new brand "Enough!", could also get into parliament. According to their leader Kateřina Konečná, there is a lack of authentic left in the Chamber of Deputies. Due to a limited budget, these candidates prefer primarily contact campaigns with citizens.
Success is less likely for the Motorists. Over the past months, their preferences have been below the five percent threshold. However, they do not give up. A series of debates and larger shows in more than 180 of our cities will also be supported by their main face, the controversial MEP Filip Turek.
"We want a prosperous, efficient and self-confident state,"
described for our editorial staff the main goals of the Motorists' campaign chairman Petr Macinka.
Problematic coalition
Pre-election polls so far confirm that ANO will win the elections with a large lead. The question remains, however, whether it will also be able to form a cabinet. The most likely partners include a coalition led by Tomio Okamura, as Babiš himself declares.
In mid-June, the court stated about SPD itself, that it "is capable of provoking other people to hateful activities, which is often illustrated by comments appearing under individual posts on social networks". What does this mean, among other things? Primarily, this group belongs to reports on domestic extremism. And it is with it that ANO would like to create a new government.
Sources: author's article, CTK, own questioning
