vote-buying

Czech court rules no mass vote-buying in local elections in Bílina this time, results stand

6.10.2019 13:12  full story

Czech Police receive complaints about elections, not yet clear whether vote-buying happened

10.10.2018 7:05 Daniel Vítek, a Czech Police spokesperson, told the Czech News Agency on 6 October that police in the Ústecký Region have received several reports of suspected attempts to influence last weekend's elections and are investigating them all. He would not specify what detectives were going to do further.  full story

Martina Horváthová: Freely casting your ballot is your right - and nobody elses business!

30.9.2018 9:57 I vote regularly in every election. If I ever were to not vote, I would feel pangs of conscience for having neglected my duty as a citizen.  full story

Czech Supreme Court closes case of vote-buying at Romani housing estate, public interest of secret recording was key

5.6.2018 10:05 The Czech Supreme Court has closed a case about vote-buying in the runup to local elections in 2014 at the Chanov housing estate. The case charged Hana Jeníčková, the former Vice-Mayor of Most from the "Association of Most Residents for Most" who later became an opposition city councilmember, and Jan Hašek, former director of the city's sports hall, with attempting to buy votes from local residents.  full story

Czech Republic: ROMEA organization is a recipient of the Anticorruption Endowment's award for bravery

12.12.2017 10:16 The Anticorruption Endowment (Nadační fond proti korupci - NFPK) in the Czech Republic has given its awards for bravery this year to the ROMEA organization, to activist Jakub Čech, and to the former director of the Quality Control Department of the Road and Motorway Directorate. This award is given to people who are not afraid to point out the existence of corruption or other negative phenomena in society irrespective of the consequences for them personally.  full story

Czech elections: Vote-buying suspected in poor community, Roma not involved

26.10.2017 6:25 On 19 October the news server HlídacíPes.org ("watchdog.org") reported suspicions that ballots were being manipulated yet again in the North Bohemian town of Krupka ahead of last weekend's elections to the Czech lower house. News server Romea.cz followed up and learned that apparently Romani residents of the community were not involved this time.  full story

Czech court fines politician for bribery and extortion in attempt to buy votes of Romani people

6.3.2017 9:38 News server Aktuálně.cz has reported that on 24 February the Municipal Court in Prague upheld the first-instance conviction of a former council member of the Prague-Letňany Municipal Department, Jan Mikulecký (for the Civic Democratic Party - ODS), over events during the 2014 municipal elections. Mikulecký must pay a fine of CZK 100 000 [EUR 3 700] for bribery and extortion or spend nine months in prison.  full story

Czech politician and sports figure convicted of buying Romani votes

11.11.2016 10:30 The former Deputy Mayor of Most, Hana Jeníčková, was sentenced on Monday, 7 November 2016 to eight months in prison, conditionally postponed for one year, for obstructing the preparation and conduct of the municipal elections there in 2014. The same punishment was handed down against the former director of the sports hall in Most, Jan Hašek.  full story

Slovak Police investigating suspicions of vote-buying in Romani settlements

15.3.2016 17:49 Police in Slovakia are investigating whether vote-buying has occurred in two Romani settlements in eastern Slovakia, where two lesser-known candidates for the governing party Směr-Sociální Demokracie (Direction-Social Democracy - Směr-SD), Peter Chudík and Stanislav Kubánek, won many more preferential votes than Slovak PM Robert Fico, the party's chair and most popular politician. Parliamentary elections were held in Slovakia more than a week ago.  full story

Bulgaria: Mayor plans referendum in which Roma cannot vote

12.6.2015 20:45 News server focus-fen.net reported on 9 June that Petar Paunov, Mayor of Kyustendil, told a Bulgarian television station that he plans to call a local referendum to ask whether he should run for a third term this fall - one that would exclude Romani voters. The mayor said that vote-buying in the Roma community is always widely-covered by the media and that he did "not want to discredit the poll”.  full story

Czech NGO says repeat elections involved vote-buying again, but on a smaller scale

Bílina/Chomutov, 2.2.2015 19:49, (ROMEA) Even though police claim they have not noted any cases of vote-buying during the repeat elections in the municipalities of Bílina and Chomutov (Ústí nad Labem region) this past weekend, nonprofit organizations monitoring the situation say they reported possible cases of vote-selling to police more than once. Nevertheless, Janusz Konieczny of the Anticorruption Endowment has evaluated the situation as much more positive compared to the fall municipal elections.  full story

Czech Police propose prosecution of vote-buying at Romani event

Chomutov, 31.1.2015 23:20, (ROMEA) The Czech Police have completed their investigation of alleged vote-buying during last fall's municipal elections in Chomutov. Police have proposed the prosecution of a 45-year-old local man for interfering with the preparations for and course of an election.  full story

Czech Constitutional Court postpones repeat elections in Brno municipality

Brno, 9.1.2015 19:43, (ROMEA) On Thursday, 8 January, the Czech Constitutional Court (Ústavní soud- ÚS) halted preparations for a repeat of the local elections in the Brno-sever Municipal Department until it reaches a decision on complaints filed by the Municipal Department and Mayor Rostislav Hakl (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD). The Regional Court in Brno cancelled the results of last year's elections over vote-buying and Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec then announced new elections for 14 March.  full story

Czech Police charge man with vote-buying in Litvínov

Litvínov/Litoměřice , 21.11.2014 21:12, (ROMEA) Police have charged a 24-year-old man in Litvínov (Most district) with vote-buying. Regional Police spokesperson Alena Bartošová told the Czech News Agency that detectives say the man offered money and a party with free refreshments to dozens of socially vulnerable people in exchange for their votes.  full story

Czech court decides local elections will repeat in town of Chomutov

Brno/Chomutov, 20.11.2014 22:31, (ROMEA) The municipal elections will be repeated in the Czech town of Chomutov. Even though those who complained to the Ústí Regional Court have failed with their particular request as to why the elections should be invalidated nationwide, the court has ordered that the local elections be repeated, according to court spokesperson Marcela Trejbalová.  full story

Czech local elections to repeat, Romani residents sold their votes

Brno, 13.11.2014 19:49, (ROMEA) The Regional Court in Brno has decided that the elections in the municipal department of Brno-sever are invalid and will be repeated. The court considers it to have been proven that dozens of Romani people voted for Mayor Rostislav Hakl (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) because they received entrance to a party with free beverages and food in exchange for their votes.  full story

Czech court upholds local election in Vítkovice municipal department of Ostrava

Ostrava, 11.11.2014 23:16, (ROMEA) The local elections in the Vítkovice municipal department of Ostrava have now been certified. Yesterday the Regional Court in Ostrava rejected a lawsuit filed by Romani leader Josef Stojka over alleged vote-buying there.  full story

Czech mayor allegedly bribed Romani voters with free beer and rap tickets

Brno, 7.11.2014 0:14, (ROMEA) Beer, cola and food for free as well as CZK 300 cash in exchange for casting a vote for a particular candidate. Today the Regional Court in Brno was scheduled to begin reviewing a case of alleged bribery during the local elections in Brno-sever municipality.  full story

Czech Republic: Winners of Chomutov local elections go to court over vote-buying

Chomutov, 14.10.2014 17:38, (ROMEA) The Czech town of Chomutov will be governed until the next elections by a coalition of the ANO 2011 movement, the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM) and the FOR Chomutov (PRO Chomutov) movement; representatives of those parties reached the agreement late last night. Together the three parties won 22 seats on the 35-member council.  full story

Czech NGOs have evidence of massive vote-buying in local elections

Prague, 13.10.2014 19:10, (ROMEA) The NGOs Anticorruption Endowment (Nadační fond proti korupci - NFPK), "Our Politicians" (Naši politici), "Renewal" (Oživení) and Transparency International reported today that massive vote-buying occurred during the local elections in the Czech Republic this past weekend. "The basic building block of democracy - free elections - has been impaired and vote-buying has become an advantageous business. The manipulation took place primarily in North Bohemia and North Moravia. We had representatives throughout the area and we intensively monitored these events. We are also proposing specific legislative measures that would prevent this illegal behavior," the NGOs said today.  full story