Czech Republic: Equal Opportunities Party and Roma Democratic Party field EP candidates

A total of 39 political groups have registered their candidates for this year’s elections to the European Parliament with the Czech Interior Ministry. There are six more candidates this time than there were during the last EP elections five years ago. 

Czech Interior Ministry spokesperson Vladimír Řepka made the announcement to the Czech News Agency today. According to information received by news server Romea.cz, both the Equal Opportunities Party (Strana rovných příležitostí – SRP) and the Roma Democratic Party (Romská demokratická strana – RDS) will be fielding candidates for the EP.

The deadline for submitting candidate lists was today at 16:00 CET. "Yesterday – Monday, 17 March – the Equal Opportunities Party officially registered for the upcoming European elections," Štefan Tišer, the SRP’s lead candidate on the nine-member list, told news server Romea.cz. 

The RDS is also running but has only two candidates on its list. First place is held by Rastislav Lučanský and second place by party chair Miroslav Tancoš. 

Řepka did not rule out the possibility that the final number of coalitions, movements and parties might slightly rise. Some nominations in the dozens of materials delivered to the ministry’s various registries may not have been counted yet.  

All seven parliamentary movements and parties – ANO, the Christian Democratic Party (KDU-ČSL), the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM), the Czech Social Democrats (ČSSD), Dawn of Direct Democracy (Úsvit) and TOP 09 with the Mayors’ and Independents’ Movement – will be fielding EP candidates. Several newly-created groups want to compete with them in addition to the traditional participants in such electoral battles.  

New contenders include the Liberal Environmental Party (Liberálně ekologická strana – LES) headed by former Czech Environment Minister Martin Bursík and its direct competitor, a party called "Anti-Bursík – Stop Ecoterror!". The Green Party (Strana zelených – SZ) will also compete for the votes of the environmentally-oriented. 

Both the KSČM and the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) will compete for communist votes. The Republic (Republika) party, established last November by former Public Affairs MPs Michal Babák and Otto Chaloupka, will also be running in the EP elections.  

An EP candidate list has also been put forward by a new permutation of the LIDEM (By the People) party, which was once in government but which now no longer includes former Public Affairs member Karolína Peake and has renamed itself VIZE 2014 (Vision 2014). The Civic Conservative Party (Občanská konzervativní strana – OKS) founded by former ODS MP Jiří Janeček is also running.

The list of newcomers includes a party called "evropani.cz" ("Europeans.cz") and the Movement of the Socially Deprived (Hnutí sociálně slabých – HSS), which only became a registered party last Monday. For many of these parties the elections will evidently be an opportunity to introduce themselves to the public through the free airtime provided them by Czech Radio and Czech Television.  

There are only three coalitions on the list of groups running:  TOP09 with the Mayors and Independents’ Movement, the right-wing extremist Workers’ Social Justice Party (DSSS) with the Party for Europe (Strana pro Evropu – SPE), and the Labor Party (Strana práce) together with the Dissatisfied Citizens movement (Nespokojení občané – NO). The other parties running are: the Independent Citizens’ Action Group (Aktiv nezávislých občanů), the Czech Pirate Party, the Czech National Socialist Party, the Czech Party of the Regions, Czech Sovereignty, the Czechoslovak Socialist Party, the Fair Play movement with the Volunteer Firefighters Support Movement, the Club of Engaged Independents, the monarchist Czech Crown party (Koruna Česká), LEV 21 – National Socialists, the Moravians, National Democracy, Citizens 2011 (Občané 2011), the Republican Party of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia, the SNK European Democrats, the Free Citizens’ Party (Strana svobodných občanů), the Common Sense Party (Strana zdravého rozumu), the Public Affairs party (Věci veřejné – VV) and Vote the Right Bloc (Volte Pravý Blok).