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Czechia (Czech Republic)

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Sam the Centipede
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Czechia (Czech Republic)

#1

Post by Sam the Centipede »

It seems Czechia (as the Czech Republic, one part of the Soviet era country of Czechoslovakia, prefers to be named) is experiencing some political excitement

There was an election for seats in the House of Deputies (the lower house in their bicameral system) in early October 2021.

The previous government was a centrist euroskeptic populist party, ANO, Action for Dissatisfied Citizens, led by a billionaire, Andrej Babiš, who was the Prime Minister (i.e. the head of government).

ANO is still the most popular single party with 27.1% of there popular vote but Together, a center-right coalition of 3 parties, won 27.8%. Clearly both of these are under 50%.

The latest wrinkle is that the President, Miloš Zeman, has been taken to hospital, apparently very ill.

As in most European countries (excluding France) the head of state is a largely ceremonial post, occupied either by a king of queen (in the monarchies) or a president (in the republics). The one key substantive duty the head of state has is to oversee the transfer of power following an election, typically a rubber-stamp job if there is a clear result, more complex if not.

Miloš Zeman (the President) is a backer of Andrej Babiš (outgoing Prime Minister) and had indicated he would work to keep ANO/Babiš in power, whereas opposition parties say ANO lost the support of the electorate so they should have first go at forming a coalition government.

We await developments!

(And no, I have no connection with Czechia, never been there and I certainly don't understand their language.)

Some sources:
AP News: Czech president hospitalized; Could affect forming new govt
The Guardian: Czech president in hospital after shock election defeat for PM
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Phoenix520
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Re: Czechia (Czech Republic)

#2

Post by Phoenix520 »

One of my best mommy friends when Sprout was at the Lycee in LA is Czech. I haven’t seen her in ages but i see her on Facebook when i go there. I’ll have to see if she’s posting anything.
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Her son is the one marrying his long lost childhood sweetheart, who is interning with Dr. Fauci.
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John Thomas8
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The home of Simon Whistler, multi-channel YouTuber.
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RTH10260
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Re: Czechia (Czech Republic)

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Post by RTH10260 »

Populist Leader of Czech Republic Narrowly Defeated in Election
The results suggest that the populist wave in Eastern and Central Europe is receding, stalled by the growing unity of its opponents and a crisis of confidence after the defeat of the former U.S. president.

By Andrew Higgins
Oct. 9, 2021

PRAGUE — In a blow to Europe’s once surging populist politicians, the prime minister of the Czech Republic, a pugnacious businessman who has compared himself to Donald Trump and railed against migrants, suffered a surprising defeat in a parliamentary election that ended on Saturday.

After two days of voting, near-final results indicated that a center-right coalition of parties led by a button-down former academic had won the largest share of votes, narrowly ahead of a party led by the scandal-singed prime minister, Andrej Babis.

Czech Television calculated that opposition groups would win 108 of 200 seats in the lower house of Parliament, meaning that Mr. Babis, a billionaire, had little chance of staying on as prime minister.

The results, which showed a nationalist party led by a Czech-Japanese firebrand getting around 9.6 percent of the vote, were far from an unequivocal rejection of far-right populism. But the strong showing by the mainstream coalition and a socially liberal opposition group, the Pirates, allied with another party dominated by local mayors, suggested that a populist wave in Eastern and Central Europe is perhaps receding.



https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/09/worl ... ublic.html
Uninformed
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Czechia (Czech Republic)

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Post by Uninformed »

“Petr Pavel: Ex-general beats populist rival in Czech election”:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-64438955

“Retired Nato general Petr Pavel has been elected as the new president of the Czech Republic, seeing off his populist challenger Andrej Babis.
The 61-year-old took 57.6% of the vote, initial results released by the state statistics office showed.
Mr Babis - who served as prime minister between 2017 and 2021 - conceded defeat in a speech to supporters soon after the results were announced.
The ex-general will replace Milos Zeman, whose second term ends in March.
The second-round runoff between Mr Babis and Mr Pavel was portrayed as a contest between populist oligarchy and liberal democracy.
The elections' results follow an ill-tempered campaign marred by alleged death threats and disinformation.”
If you can't lie to yourself, who can you lie to?
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