Czech politician's anti-Gypsyism is no impediment to her career

Alena Rašková (Czech Social Democratic Party – ČSSD),the Deputy Mayor of Prostějov who is infamous for her remarks about Romani people, is now seeking the mayoralty there. Her candidacy was supported today by the local governing coalition of the ČSSD, the PéVéčko movement and the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM).

"I will run for mayor. Our party has already confirmed it and the proposal is also supported by our coalition partners," the 65-year-old Rašková told the Czech News Agency.  

The town’s 35-member council will choose a new mayor on 5 October. Outgoing Mayor Miroslav Pišťák has tendered his resignation because of a controversy over donations.

The governing coalition holds a majority of 18 votes on the council. "Anyone can run and the decision will be made by the council," Rašková said.

Rašková is also the ČSSD candidate for the post of Regional Councilor, which became available last week after the resignation of Deputy Governor Alois Mačák (ČSSD). The Regional Council will meet on Friday to choose his replacement.

"Roma ‘make’ children as a business," Rašková told the press 

During last year’s local election campaign Rašková did not hesitate to play a racist tune for her voters. Her path to the mayoralty apparently will not be harmed by the anti-Gypsyist sentiments she expressed, for example, in the Prostějovský večerník, which news server Romea.cz reported on here.    

"Roma exploit 100 % of anything they get their hands on. They are perfectly familiar with the laws they use to get money. (…) In our opinion state support should only be paid to families with a maximum of three children. I have the feeling that even in those cases the Roma ‘make’ children as a business, so they can get as much welfare as possible from the state. (…)We have been cursing the outrageous behavior of the minority population and their leeching off of the state for several years now and we have yet to successfully deploy a system to stop it," Rašková said during last year’s campaign.    

Daniel Kalenda, a local councilor in the town of Liberec and a member of the Christian Democrats, was recently stripped of his party membership for such behavior. The ostracism or prosecution of politicians for abusive, offensive, hateful or xenophobic remarks is quite unusual in the Czech political environment.