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October 20, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 2
Czech general election: Saying Yes to what exactly?
tendencies and a habit of over-simplifying govern- ment in an attempt at running it like a business. Those anxious to see the country remain a West- ern-style liberal democracy are, you might say, rather concerned.
For the past year, the Czech security services have been warning that Russian intelligence is waging an “information war” within the Czech Republic, building a network of puppet groups and propaganda agents used to sow the kind of insta- bility and divisiveness within which nationalist, eurosceptic parties such as Ano thrive. But such alerts seem to have made little impression in the country. The latest polls show Slovak-born 'anti- politician' Babis set to garner around a quarter
of the electorate's support, the far right Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) party towards 10% and the present-day Communists around 11%.
With the Social Democrats (CSSD) — the senior partner in the current ruling coalition formed with Ano and the Christian Democrats — not thought likely to poll beyond 12-15%, the centre-right ODS poised to pick up around a tenth of the votes cast, the transparency and digital-agenda-driven Pirate Party on course for 8.5% and nobody else making any real inroads with voters, the scene may be set for either another Ano-CSSD ruling partnership or a coalition of Ano and fringe parties, with the silent support of the Communists. And the latter prospect, which would also enjoy the backing of the country's Kremlin-friendly President Milos Ze- man — unmistakably relishing the idea of a Babis victory — has liberals swallowing hard.
On election eve, October 19, Czech financial daily Hospodarske noviny reported that there is specu- lation in the halls of power that a Babis govern-
ment would be supported by the Communists or the SPD. It added that the uncertainty about what Babis' political direction would be after the vot- ing is over could cause a weakening of the crown, temporarily or otherwise, and reported analyst Michael Skorepa of bank Ceska sporitelna as say- ing that there could be difficulties if the calling of a referendum on a 'Czexit' starts to seem realistic. Zeman, though claiming that he is for staying in the EU, is determined that the matter is put in the hands of the Czech people, a highly Eurosceptic bunch at the best of times. For instance, a recent survey by Datamar for Pravo recorded 85.2% of respondents as against adopting the euro, even though there is a good case that their relatively wealthy and export-dependent country, with its strong economic fundamentals, might benefit handsomely from core membership of the future European bloc.
Any lengths
The anxiety is palpable. Daniel Herman, the Christian Democrat culture minister, said this week that his party would go to any lengths to block a coalition government of Ano, the Commu- nists and SPD, while Lubomir Zaoralek, foreign minister and CSSD leader since early summer, said that if Babis becomes prime minister Slova- kia would be the last remaining “normal” country in Central Europe — both Poland and Hungary have ensconced populist governments, while earlier this week Austria's election saw the main nationalist and far right outfits come in first and second.
Erik Tabery, editor-in-chief of news weekly Re- spekt, on October 16 questioned whether most Czechs will grasp the gravity of what is at stake as they go to the polls over the next two days.
He wrote: “Of every election it is said that it will be decisive, the most important and fateful. This year that is being heard more often than in years gone by. Nevertheless, society is evidently not itself thinking that. It shows up neither in the public opinion surveys nor in the level of support expressed for the parties who address the fateful- ness most often.”