Romani candidates not seated in Czech lower house, Beňák and Tišer got the most preferential votes

The Romani candidates who sought seats in the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic have not succeeded. That means the Czech lower house still has not one Romani representative.

Of the Romani candidates running, the person who got the most preferential votes was David Beňák, who was specifically chosen in Prague by 348 voters. Compared to the previous election, when he won 2 275 preferential votes, Beňák, who was in 14th place on the candidate list, did significantly worse, like the rest of the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD).

"I consider it very important to thank all who voted for their support. I greatly appreciate it," the candidate posted to online social networks after polls closed.

The second most successful Romani candidate was David Tišer, who ran in 13th place on the Prague candidate list of the Green Party (Strana zelených - SZ) and got 253 votes. During the previous lower house elections he won 271 preferential votes in the Plzeň Region.

The Green Party scored just 1.46 % of the vote and will not be seated in the lower house. "Another election is behind us, with very bad results for the Greens, but I would like to thank all voters who cast ballots for a democratic, pro-EU party. I congratulate the Pirates on their brilliant result and I thank all who cast preferential votes for me, especially since they had to look for me on the back of the ballot," said Karel Karika, vice-mayor of the Ústí nad Labem - centrum Municipal Department who won 73 preferential votes in 26th place on the SZ candidate list.

Anna Chválová, who ran in Prage for the SZ in 32nd place, got 68 preferential votes. "We are not giving up, and next time we will make it into the lower house - many thanks to all who voted and who chose the Green Party. This was an unbelievable electoral marathon, I got to know many brilliant people who are on fire for our cause. Some friends supported me the entire time. I thank you for your preferential votes," she posted to Facebook.

Martin Bajger, who ran at 25th place on the SZ candidate list in Ústecký Region, got 62 preferential votes. In his home municipality of Trmice he reeived 21 of those votes, or 61.76 % of all the preferential votes cast for him.

The two Romani people running for extremist parties got preferential votes in the single digits. Neither of those parties was seated.

The last Romani MP in the Czech Republic was Monika Horáková (now Mihaličková) for the Freedom Union (Unie svobody - US) from 1998 - 2002. She won 3 796 preferential votes in the 1998 elections, the sixth-highest number of votes for any US candidate.