After the overnight break, the Chamber of Deputies again discusses the correspondence election for compatriots

Commercial presentation Update: 10/05/2024 14:26
Issued by: 10/05/2024, 10:06

Prague – After a night break, the Chamber of Deputies continues today in the second round of negotiations on the coalition electoral amendment, which is supposed to enable a correspondence form of voting for Czechs living abroad. The approval of the draft is being hindered by members of the opposition movements ANO and SPD, which were not as popular with compatriots in the previous elections as the government parties. The parliamentary system recorded 23 applications for regular discussion before 10:30. The coalition has limited the time for the general discussion on the correspondence election to 6:00 p.m. today. The coalition pushed for it, pointing out that the objections of the opposition are repeated in the debate.

At the same time, due to the threat of obstructions, the coalition approved a proposal that deputies will be able to submit amendments to the amendment on postal voting until nightfall. The representatives of the ANO movement protested against this, the chairwoman of the ANO deputies, Alena Schillerová, requested a break in her faction’s meeting until 1:05 p.m. Subsequently, she requested a meeting of representatives of all factions, to which the Speaker of the House Markéta Pekarová Adamová (TOP 09) complied and interrupted the meeting because of this.

Right from the start, Schiller tried to take advantage of the low number of deputies in the meeting hall and unsuccessfully requested the postponement of the discussion until the beginning of September this year. She then scolded the coalition MPs for not coming to work on time for a meeting they had initiated. The government camp accompanied her words by banging the benches.

Similar attempts to postpone the meeting also accompanied Thursday’s opening day of the second reading of the amendment, in which deputies can propose amendments to the draft. The opposition repeatedly tried to attract the attention of the coalition. However, the members of the governing majority always managed to gather in the meeting hall in sufficient numbers so that the opposition’s efforts to postpone the debate in the vote failed.

Criticism from opposition representatives was linked by repeated claims that the postal election is expedient and does not guarantee compliance with the constitutional principle of equality, directness and secrecy of voting. Schiller’s speech was no exception, as today, as on Thursday, she took advantage of the opportunity to speak with preferential speaking rights. “The proposed form of postal election will cripple our electoral system and threaten trust in elections. And it will deprive the Czech Republic of democratic certainty of incalculable value,” she declared. According to her, behind the postal election is the coalition’s attempt to influence the election result in its favor.

Another speaker with the right of priority, SPD leader Tomio Okamura, expressed himself similarly to Schiller. According to him, the proposed form of voting by mail is “a purposeful piece of legislation” and will weaken trust in democracy, according to Okamura. He sees the coalition’s attempt to improve the election result “by a few votes from abroad” behind the blueprint. In addition, the chairman of the SPD believes that this is the first step towards the introduction of postal elections in the Czech Republic as well. Possible massive manipulation of votes would then only arouse massive resistance, which could lead to civil war, he warned.

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. They would then be able to vote by mail in the presidential, European and parliamentary elections, for the first time in those that will be held next autumn.

The ANO movement, which, like the SPD, was unsuccessful in the previous parliamentary elections among Czechs abroad, advocates postponing the effective date of the proposal until the beginning of 2026. It wants to exclude elections to the European Parliament from postal voting due to the alleged greatest risk of double voting. He wants to limit postal voting to those Czech citizens living abroad who have a permanent residence in the Czech Republic, property or pay taxes or levies. SPD representatives have repeatedly proposed rejecting the electoral amendment.

Czech Republic election law House of Representatives coalition AUDIO meeting OPENER