Monitor: Politicians Praised High Voter Turnout in Czech General Election

(TA3,'V politike', 5 October) The Czech parliamentary elections were marked by a calm and civil atmosphere, as well as high voter turnout, agreed the leaders of parliamentary caucuses during TA3's discussion programme 'V politike' (In Politics) on Sunday. Participating in the discussion were Jan Richter (Smer-SD), Roman Michelko (SNS), Branislav Groehling (SaS), and Igor Janckulik (KDH). Richter believes the high turnout proved that Czechs desire change. He expects Czech-Slovak relations to improve following the victory of Andrej Babis’s ANO party and anticipates a revival of joint government meetings. „I believe that the Czech Republic and Slovakia will also grow closer in terms of foreign affairs policies,” added Richter. Michelko is convinced that Babis will be a closer ally to Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) than outgoing Prime Minister Petr Fiala. He also pointed out that the election results signalled a rejection of the outgoing government's policies, citing the failure of Finance Minister Zbynek Stanjura, who did not even win a parliamentary seat. For the leader of SaS, a significant outcome of the Czech elections was the failure of the Enough! party, which includes communists, to enter Parliament. Groehling also expressed scepticism about Babis’s efforts to revive the Visegrad Four (V4). „Poland is in a completely different position than Slovakia and Hungary — what benefit would such cooperation bring Warsaw?” he asked. Janckulik, on the other hand, hopes for a V4 restart. „The alliance of four countries is an advantage and gives us a stronger position within the European Union,” he argued. mf