Brno Mayor Markéta Vaňková (ODS) announced yesterday in a Facebook post that she will not stand again for mayor in the municipal elections in October. She said she made the decision due to health issues. The joint candidate list of ODS and TOP 09 in the City of Brno will be led by television producer and director of the Serial Killer festival, Kamila Zlatušková.
“I am extremely proud of the last 8 years when I had the honor to be at the head of our beautiful and lively Brno,” wrote Vaňková in a Facebook post. “However, for health reasons, I will not apply for the position of mayor again. Thank you all, people of Brno. It wasn’t always easy, but together we did it just fine.”
She wished Zlatušková the best for the future on taking over as ODS candidate for mayor, adding that she was “convinced that you can give Brno the right direction to continue to be the best address.”
Vaňková was born in Brno in 1977. She has been Mayor of Brno since 2018, but has faced serious health challenges in recent months. She appeared at a recent council meeting only briefly, wearing a facemask on the advice of doctors.
In an interview with Novinky, released yesterday, Vaňková revealed that in February she underwent eight abdominal surgeries under full anesthesia over a period of twenty days due to gastroenterological problems. “I also had water on my lungs. I was hospitalized for a total of six weeks, four of which I was just lying down,” she said.
Vaňková also wrote a longer letter to the public, in which she explained her condition and her reasons for stepping down.
“In the hospital, I had a lot of time to think about what awaits me, what I have to do and what I would like to do, of course with regard to the upcoming autumn municipal elections,” she wrote. “My health will not allow me to fully lead the second largest city in the Czech Republic and at the same time intensively devote myself to the election campaign. I must also take into account that I will most likely have another operation in the first months of the new election period. That is why I have decided not to run for the post of Mayor of Brno again.”
Her letter also described her feelings about Brno, and listed her achievements in office. She wrote that Brno is now developing at a dizzying pace and is extremely successful in many ways.
“Universities are moving up in international rankings and local companies are sending top-notch products and innovations to the world,” she wrote. “Brno is also fully prepared to offer its current and future residents a quality and fulfilling life. And this while maintaining its unique atmosphere, which pulsates with authentic culture, a great gastronomic scene, student enthusiasm…”
The Brno-City ODS regional council has appointed Zlatušková as their new leader for the Brno municipal elections. She is a television producer, screenwriter and director, who founded the Serial Killer international TV festival. Her father Jiří Zlatuška was an ANO MP from 2013 to 2017.
Vaňková described Zlatušková as “a woman whom I respect professionally and personally and whom I am convinced has the same opinion as me about the further direction of society as a whole and purely Brno.”
