Regional and Senate elections will go ahead as planned on Friday and Saturday, as the government is confident that it is able to ensure voting even in places affected by the floods, Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) said at a press conference after an extraordinary cabinet meeting yesterday evening.
The mayor of Opava, which has been hit by high water, asked for the elections to be postponed. A working group has been set up at the Interior Ministry to help ensure that the elections are held as planned.
Interior Minister Vit Rakusan (STAN) said earlier in the day that if the elections were not held, their legitimacy could be challenged. Yesterday evening he added that firefighters, police and statisticians would cooperate in the elections.
The legal deadline to change the election date expired yesterday, said President Petr Pavel, who attended the cabinet meeting. He said the argument for postponing the date would be if it were not possible to guarantee the regularity of voting in all places.
The prime minister said the government had considered all the arguments and consulted with governors and election experts. “We have considered all the arguments, all the options,” he said. He said there could be doubts even if the vote is postponed, as in 90% of the seats the elections could be held without any problems. Rakusan added that there was no demand for a state of emergency from the regions, which would be a necessary step to postpone the election date.
According to comments from Environment Minister Petr Hladik (KDU-CSL) in recent days, firefighters should ensure voting in places where standard polling stations cannot be set up, and volunteers should also help.
According to Opava Mayor Tomas Navratil (ANO), it will be very difficult to prepare for the elections. He said it would not be possible to open some of the polling stations in the town, and it would probably not be possible to ensure the distribution of ballot papers. He said there may also be problems with the members of the election commissions. The city has staffing problems, especially in the case of the Senate runoff.
