On Thursday afternoon, roughly 6.5 hours after the start of the meeting, the House of Representatives approved the program of an extraordinary meeting convened at the initiative of the government camp for the next round of debate on the introduction of the option of postal voting for Czech citizens living abroad. MPs from the opposition ANO and SPD did not support the meeting, they voted against it. After the approval of the program of the meeting, 23 deputies reported to the proper discussion of the controversial electoral amendment.
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11:01 am 5/9/2024 (Updated: 19:30 5/9/2024)
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The opening parliamentary debate on the proposal in the plenary took up six working days, also due to opposition obstructions, and lasted approximately 63.5 hours of net time.
The beginning of the meeting of the lower house before the vote on the program was dominated by the chairmen of the pair of opposition movements Andrej Babiš (ANO) and Tomio Okamura (SPD). Their appearance on the title of priority took a total of approximately 5.5 hours.
Babiš stated, among other things, that the coalition government of Petr Fiala (ODS) has not fulfilled any of the pre-election coalition promises, is taking advantage of old-age pensioners, has not prevented high inflation and is promoting the steps implemented by the previous cabinet under the leadership of the ANO chairman.
Czechs abroad mainly vote for the parties of the current government, ANO has declining support and extremes are not doing well
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Okamura used the performance mainly to criticize the EU migration pact and the government, which he accused of treason in connection with it. “The migration pact is a disaster for the Czech Republic and another betrayal of the Fial government to our citizens,” he said.
According to the coalition draft, Czech citizens who will be entered in the voter list at the locally competent embassy could use the correspondence election from abroad. The proposal concerns presidential, parliamentary and European elections.
According to the draft, Czechs abroad could vote by letter for the first time in the next regular elections to the House of Representatives in 2025.
MPs are awaiting the second reading of the electoral amendment, in which they will be able to submit amendments. The amendment of some parameters of the correspondence election has already been proposed by the constitutional and legal committee. However, the coalition and the opposition continue to disagree on its compliance with the constitution.
The opposition movements ANO and SPD claim that voting by mail may be contrary to the principles of secret, free and personal elections.
At the very beginning of the meeting, the Chamber decided, on the proposal of the coalition, that it would be able to act overnight. According to ČTK information from the morning meeting of the House’s wider leadership, Thursday’s business day could end around 01:00 on Friday. The meeting should then continue from Friday 09.00.
CTK
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