Let’s restrict citizens so that they cannot support more presidential candidates, thought the MP

In the end, the Constitutional and Legal Committee did not accept the amendment at its meeting on Wednesday, but the idea was supported by several MPs across political parties.

It was first raised by the chairman of the ODS parliamentary club, Marek Benda. He did not like the fact that the amendment of the Ministry of the Interior introduced restrictions for deputies and senators, not for citizens. It should apply that a group of 20 deputies or 10 senators or 50 thousand citizens will be able to propose a presidential candidate, including in an online petition. While legislators will be able to support only one, citizens will be able to sign up for multiple candidates just like now.

“Shouldn’t this also apply to citizens? The principle of projecting that if I want to propose something, whether I am a politician or an ordinary citizen, I have the right to one proposal,” Bendu thought.

Vondráček would like fewer candidates

His opinion was supported, for example, by MP Pavel Staněk from ODS, MP Iveta Štefanová from SPD and MP Radek Vondráček from ANO. Tom likes that such a change would limit the number of candidates for the Castle.

Pavel did not rule out that he will run again

Presidential election

“A presidential candidate is something. After all, it is not our goal to have as many candidates for president as possible. If there is a narrower throat that does not let everyone in, it would be good,” thinks Vondráček.

On the contrary, the chairman of the STAN parliamentary club, Josef Cogan, did not agree with his colleagues’ idea. “At a time when there are ten or twenty deputies or senators, but 50,000 citizens, there is no equality or inequality. After all, it’s already inequality,” he pointed out to his colleagues.

Member of Parliament Zuzana Ožanová (ANO), on the other hand, considers it right to allow wider political competition in the Castle elections. “I have no problem with someone giving more signatures. That’s not support for a candidate, that’s support for him to run for voters. This is support for him to be a candidate,” she said.

It would increase administration

Even Petar Vokáč, deputy for legislation at the Ministry of the Interior, did not like the proposal. “This would significantly increase the administrative burden,” he pointed out, adding that it would be more difficult to check whether a citizen’s signature does not appear on another list of candidates.

“Both with the support of legislators and with the support of citizens, it is up to the political decision whether to regulate it or not,” added Vokáč.

survey

In your opinion, should citizens have the right to support only one presidential candidate in a petition?

A total of 223 readers voted.

The proposal of the Ministry of the Interior responds to the experience of the last direct presidential elections. The regulation explicitly enshrines the rule that deputies and senators may support only one candidate.

If a lawmaker is a member of several petitioner groups, his signature will not be taken into account on any of the candidate lists. Candidates seeking the support of more than fifty thousand citizens will be given the opportunity to collect signatures in addition to paper forms via the Internet.

If the candidate obtains the necessary signatures on the electronic petition and fulfills the conditions, the authorities will register him. The proposal was approved by the government, and the deputies will probably discuss it at the next meeting of the House of Representatives.