Prague Pirates: Hřib names lack of money as the main problem

Pirate Party chairman Zdeněk Hřib considers a lack of campaign money the party’s main problem. That is why, he says, the Pirates are launching a new fundraising project in which people can “subscribe to a better Czechia” by sending a small donation every month.

Hřib told the news site Novinky that the party has to turn to small donors because it is not looked after by developers or other interest groups. There is less money for campaigns, but, he said, it lets the party do politics for people, and he sleeps better for it.

Social media rules and billboards

In Hřib’s view, the tightening of rules on political campaigning on social media, introduced in the European Union last year, also played a role: as a result, Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, stopped showing political ads on its platforms. The weight of outdoor, that is billboard, campaigning has, by his estimate, grown noticeably. He recalled that the Pirates voted for a ban on illegal billboards while other parties did not support it, and that this has consequences.

Hřib assessed the results outside Prague positively. In Pružánky, mayor Zdeněk Němeček (Pirates) kept his post, having won more than half of the votes in the first round. Senator Adéla Šípová advanced to the runoff in the Kladno district. In addition, in Ústí nad Labem a coalition including the Pirates won more than 50% of the vote.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz