Eva Pavlová: Czechia hasn't made voting more flexible yet

Czech first lady Eva Pavlová has come to the defense of her husband, President Petr Pavel, who is facing criticism for missing this weekend's municipal elections because of a private trip abroad. According to her, the state fixed the election date in law for the first time but did nothing to let people vote more flexibly.

“For the first time, the state has rigidly fixed the date of the municipal elections directly in law. Yet it has done nothing to let people vote more flexibly — not only from abroad, but also from another place in Czechia where they happen to be working, studying or spending time. If we want people to take part in elections, we need to create the conditions for that,” Pavlová wrote on Instagram.

The President's Office said back on Friday that Pavel would not take part in the vote because of a private trip abroad. An official statement from the office said the president regretted the scheduling error. Normally, Pavel would have voted in the village of Černoušek in the Litoměřice region.

The President's Office did not say exactly where the president had gone. Czech rally driver Martin Prokop revealed the destination on social media — he posted a joint photo with the head of state in Morocco. “Our friend from the Dakar, Petr Pavel, dropped by to see us at the Morocco Rally too. Thank you,” he wrote alongside a photo of his team with the president, posted on Facebook.

The president's decision to go abroad during the elections drew criticism from figures in both the government and the opposition. “I have no understanding for this — it's a mistake and a bad signal to voters,” said STAN party MP Michaela Šebelová, commenting on the president's trip.

Source: seznamzpravy.cz