Czech ANO, SPD and Communists form Secret Coalition in Chamber of Deputies

Prague, Nov 22 (CTK) – A coalition of the ANO movement, Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) and the Communists (KSCM) has obviously emerged in the Czech Chamber of Deputies, and the three parties should confess to having become allies, Social Democrat (CSSD) acting head Milan Chovanec told CTK today.

 

The three parties have formed a firm bloc that votes together and they are trying to conceal this in belief that they may still win more allies, Chovanec, the outgoing interior minister whose CSSD is heading for opposition, said.

 

It would be honest of ANO, the SPD and the KSCM to openly admit having struck a deal, he said.

 

The election-winning ANO has 78 seats in the 200-seat Chamber of Deputies. The SPD, which many label populist and extreme-right, has 22 seats and the KSCM 15.

 

Their bloc resolves the problem of governance of the country, since it has enough votes to form a functioning government with a majority support in the Chamber of Deputies, Chovanec said.

 

He said he would consider holding an early election a failure of politicians.

 

The SPD and the KSCM leaders will probably help ANO’s Radek Vondracek be elected lower house chairman today and the two parties’ leaders, Tomio Okamura and Vojtech Filip, should set conditions for their respective parties to support [an ANO minority] cabinet, Chovanec said.

 

“A cabinet can be appointed very soon and the period of political instability may end immediately,” he said, adding that he expects himself to join the lower house’s security committee and continue promoting the projects he launched in his capacity as interior minister.

 

Chovanec commented on the police’s request that the new Chamber of Deputies release ANO leader and probable new PM Andrej Babis and his deputy Jaroslav Faltynek for prosecution for a fraudulent drawing of a subsidy by Babis’s Stork Nest (Capi hnizdo) company.

 

He said the police acted in accordance with law, and he dismissed ANO’s criticism of the police’s step.

 

He said he was especially surprised at the reaction of Vondracek, who said the police’s step was “a blitz action” with a political background.

 

Reacting to the police request on Tuesday, Vondracek said he thought “we are in a different situation than before the elections. We know more. In addition, the situation in the Chamber of Deputies is different, since one of those to be released for prosecution has been asked to form a government.”

 

Chovanec said Vondracek should explain his words better. “I do not comprehend the words pronounced by a democrat and a lawyer by training,” he said.

 

The previous Chamber of Deputies voted to release Babis and Faltynek to the police. The prosecution of the two had to be suspended after their re-election as deputies in October. To resume it, the police had to file a new request for their release.