Rakusan intends to meet with officials to discuss changes to the law. Photo credit: vlada.cz.
Prague, Nov 26 (CTK) – Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakusan (STAN) intends to meet officials from his ministry after the end of the current presidential election to discuss changes to the rules, he wrote on Twitter yesterday.
Rakusan said the differing interpretations of the law raised some questions that could only be resolved by the Supreme Administrative Court (NSS).
These include the dispute over whether a member of the Chamber of Deputies or a senator can sign the documents of several different candidates.
The Interior Ministry is currently of the view that this should be allowed, but in 2017, the NSS ruled the opposite.
On Friday, constitutional lawyer Jan Kysela warned of Denisa Rohanova having been approved as a candidate. She submitted her bid with the signatures of members of the previous Chamber of Deputies whose term of office expired last autumn.
She registered at the office at the time the lawmakers still had valid mandates. The Interior Ministry says this is permitted.
“The differing interpretations of the law on the presidential election may raise questions that can only be resolved by the NSS,” wrote Rakusan.
“After the January presidential election I will meet my deputy and his staff to discuss amendments to the law,” he added.
On Friday, the Interior Ministry approved nine candidates and rejected a further 12.
The registered candidates are former PM and opposition ANO leader Andrej Babis, far-right MP Jaroslav Basta (SPD), senators Pavel Fischer and Marek Hilser, former Mendel University rector Danuse Nerudova, former army General Petr Pavel, Denisa Rohanova, who heads an association defending debtors’ rights, trade union leader Josef Stredula, and former Charles University rector Tomas Zima.
The ministry rejected entrepreneurs Tomas Brezina, Karel Divis and Karel Janecek, as part of the signatures supporting their candidacy were not accepted, and as a result, they did not collect the required 50,000 signatures. The trio has made it clear they will appeal to the NSS. The deadline will expire on 30 November.
