The emerging government coalition of ANO, Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) and the Motorists has nominated Tomio Okamura, leader of the far-right SPD, to be the speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, ANO deputy leader Alena Schillerova confirmed yesterday.
The Motorists have nominated their MP Jiri Bartak to be deputy speaker, said their leader Petr Macinka after three-party negotiations.
The constituent session of the new parliament will be held on Monday, 3 November. In this election term, the house will have four deputy speakers, two of whom will come from the new government coalition. ANO announced previously that it would propose its MP Patrik Nacher to be the first deputy speaker.
The opposition will provide the other two deputy speakers. The Civic Democrats (ODS) want Jan Skopecek to remain in the post, while the other will be from the Mayors and Independents (STAN), who want to nominate their leader Vit Rakusan. However, Rakusan cannot occupy the post yet as he is still the interior minister of the outgoing cabinet.
Schillerova said there was no other solution to this than one of the deputy speaker positions remaining vacant for the time being.
Okamura, 53, has been a member of parliament since 2013. From 2017 to 2021, he was a deputy speaker. In the previous election term, he chaired the lower house petition committee.
Former deputy speaker Jan Bartosek (KDU-CSL) will run against Okamura in the secret ballot to select the new speaker at the constituent session on Monday. However, the coalition of ANO, SPD and the Motorists holds a comfortable majority in the house.
Bartak, 58, is a vice chair of the Motorists. He is the deputy headmaster of a primary school in Prague, and previously worked for many years for the customs administration.
