Substitute Substitute. In TOP 09, there is already talk of a new candidate for minister

“This account does not exist, try to find another.” This is what the social network X reports to users who started following the account of academician Pavel Tuleja, the intended replacement of Minister Helena Langšádlová, on April 30.

However, the account fell apart as quickly as the candidate himself after his scientific research practices came to light.

TOP 09 is therefore frantically looking for a new replacement. Already during the first search for Langšádlová’s successor, there were several names in the game. In addition to Tulej, it was, for example, MP Matěj Ondřej Havel.

Havel did not want to comment on whether he is being considered again. “In my opinion, it should be taken over by an experienced politician who will take it eruditely in hand,” he only stated.

Such a politician could allegedly be MP and head of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee Marek Ženíšek – but the politician has not yet responded to attempts to contact Seznam Zpráv.

Marek Ženíšek is a politician, political scientist and university teacher from Pilsen. Between 2008 and 2012, he worked as a deputy to the then Minister of Justice Jiří Pospíšil. He was also Deputy Minister of Health Leoš Heger. He became an MP for the first time in 2013, and after a break he was re-elected in 2021. In the past, he also held the position of first vice-chairman of TOP 09.

An experienced and above all “verified” politician would save the party worries – there would be no danger of a similar embarrassment as with Tuleja being repeated. What actually went wrong in the selection of a ministerial candidate?

TOP 09 vice-chairman and senator Tomáš Czernin already admitted to the nomination of Tulej for the ministerial post at the weekend. “Associate professor Tuleja was a great candidate in my eyes, that’s why I proposed him to the presidency for the position of minister. It was a mistake, but as a party we will learn from it,” said Czernin.

Seznam Zprava asked the vice-presidents of Topka how long and from where they had known Tuleja. Czernin’s answer was surprising – he visited Tuleja once at the university in Opava, where he is said to have made a good impression on him.

“After all, the university has taken a big step, I would say. And he made a good impression on me then too. In short, he is an associate professor and was the vice-chairman of the Czech Rectors’ Conference,” said Czernin.

A number of members of TOP 09 admitted that they practically do not know their – now former – candidate for Minister of Science and Research. Opava senator Herbert Pavera, who had known Tuleja from the region for ten years, served as a “referent” on the Board of Directors of the University of Silesia, which Tuleja led as rector until 2023.

“After Mr. Czernin recommended him, he and the chairwoman turned to me. As I knew him, he is a helpful and hardworking person. I’m sorry it turned out that way. Of course it’s a problem,” says Pavera now.

But the parties unanimously deny that they would not vet the ministerial candidate at all. A “search” was said to have taken place, but apparently not as thorough as it should have been. And it was the praise from the region where Tuleja was popular among politicians that was one of the things that played a role.

Furthermore, the politicians were lulled by the rich academic biography of Pavel Tuleja, who served as rector or vice-president of the conference of rectors. “His academic career was a guarantee for us. It simply did not occur to us that a person who was rector twice could have such a problematic past,” admits one of TOP 09’s politicians under the promise of anonymity.

This is also confirmed by another member of the party, according to whom there was an impression in the party that he was “betting on safety” with Tuleja.

The party leadership now has to hurry with the new name. In addition to the reaction of the public, there is also the risk of difficulties within the party itself. Anger is directed both at the presidency itself and above all at the head Markéta Pekarová Adamová.

The Central Bohemian cell, from which Helena Langšádlová comes, criticizes both the resignation of the minister and the failed replacement. “It’s a shot in the foot,” said Lenka Kotková, for example, the president of Beroun TOP 09. The head of TOP 09 Praha-východ Tomáš Janák, in turn, talks about “self-destructive and unsystematic steps of the party leadership”.

Not even Langšádlová herself takes napkins anymore. After joking on social networks if she would not return to her position after the anabasis with Tuleja, she indicated that relations in the party were damaged. “The party leadership must trust the minister it sends to the government, but vice versa, the minister must have confidence in the party leadership, at the moment neither applies,” said Langšádlová.

Members of TOP 09, with whom Seznam Zprávy spoke, do not deny that an unsuccessful ministerial casting could endanger Pekarová in the future. “However, we will try not to drag this into the election and concentrate mainly on the election result and stopping the drop in preferences,” one of the members of the Prague cell summed up for everyone.