Press Release: Czech Pirates Celebrate Success in Parliamentary Elections

Here is the English press release about the Czech Elections from the Czech Pirate Party. It was shared by Markéta Gregorová, PPCZ’s International Coordinator who encourages us all to share far and wide, as well as re-publish on our websites. The original document can be found here:  https://pad.pirati.cz/p/r.f4c24297d92282acd042249cc75e59ca

The Pirates recorded a historic success. With 10.79% of the vote in elections to the lower chamber of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, they gained 22 seats out of 200 overall. They thus became the third strongest party in the Czech republic.

There was already a celebratory atmosphere in the Pirates’ campaign headquarters as the vote was being counted. In his first speech to the Pirates, Ivan Bartoš thanked voters and all who participated in the campaign. At the same time, he expressed the necessity of keeping both feet on the ground. “We set this goal for ourselves and achieved it. We never lied; we persuaded people in the workplace and in the pub. We always discussed things with everyone and never walked away. We also presented our eight years of work up to now. Now we cannot anger those who voted for us. Let’s continue to be the same open Pirate Party.”

At the beginning of the campaign, the Pirates declared that getting 10% of the vote would be success in the elections. That which seemed a few months ago to be misplaced self-confidence has affirmed the changing political preferences of Czech voters. Among all the participating parties, the Pirates waged the most financially successful campaign, with a budget exceeding 350 thousand euros. To a great extent, the campaign capitalized on volunteers and crowd funding. In Parliament the Pirates will push for eGovernment, a public register of contracts for government-owned firms, fairer copyright laws, reform of the health insurance system, and the legalization and taxation of marijuana. We want a modern, open state without corruption and harassment of citizens.

An unexpected number of parties have won seats in the Parliament of the Czech Republic. Nine parties crossed the five-percent threshold. The winner of the election with 78 seats was the YES movement (ANO) of Andrej Babiš, the owner of Agrofert holding and several major national media companies. The second party in line with 25 seats was the conservative Civil Democratic Party (ODS), whose activities during the last 25 years have been accompanied by frequent scandals. Also taking seats in Parliament will be anti-establishment parties: the Freedom and Direct Democracy Party (SPD), based on anti-immigration rhetoric, and the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM). Besides these, the Chamber of Deputies will be rounded out by the heretofore governing left-wing Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD), the Christian Democrats (KDU-ČSL), the conservative TOP09, and the centrist STAN.

The campaign slogan of the Czech Pirates was “Let us at ‘em!”  We now have this opportunity, and we are committed to doing everything possible not to waste it. Follow information about Pirates in the Czech Republic and pass it along, because sharing is caring.

-PPCZ