STAN beats ANO in the Czech Senate elections: what the party says

The Mayors and Independents movement (STAN) won the second round of the Senate elections: the party took nine seats, and together with Marek Ošťádal, who is due to join its caucus, it holds 11 seats — exactly as many as it was defending. The ANO movement won no seats at all and did not even hold on to the Karviná district. STAN’s Urbanová spoke about the results.

A better result than expected

“I’m celebrating with humility,” she says. “We were defending 11 seats and we got 11. For us that is a better result than expected.” At one point it seemed the party might win all 13 seats it was contesting. What upsets her most is Hradec Králové, where STAN and ODS failed to agree on a joint candidate and Martin Dvořák did not make it through. She will also regret the loss in Plzeň. The situation is also harder in some regions, for example in Frýdek-Místek, where, according to Urbanová, Senator Pešatová was an excellent senator.

In the Senate itself the balance will hardly change: ODS will remain the largest caucus, so Senate President Miloš Vystrčil has nothing to fear. But Urbanová believes ANO’s defeat will noticeably affect relations in the Chamber of Deputies. She hopes ANO will draw conclusions: before the elections it should not have raised the issue of a freeze on politicians’ salaries, the media amendments and the resolution on the Sudeten German congress in Brno. In her view, this could sharpen relations between the governing parties, since Andrej Babiš and ANO should not give so much ground to the Motorists and SPD.

Why ANO lost

Urbanová sees the cause of ANO’s failure in the gap between promises and deeds: “If you write on a billboard that you will deliver cheaper mortgages and then don’t follow through, it will cost you something.” Being in opposition is one thing; being in power, and together with SPD and the Motorists at that, is another. Over the year, she believes, many voters realised this, while the party failed to motivate others to come out and vote.

She recalled the words of Patrik Nacher (ANO) that a brand alone is not enough. In her view, Andrej Babiš’s name is not enough either, nor is an “anti-Babiš” slogan: you have to show real work.

City coalitions and STAN’s plans

Urbanová also commented separately on the municipal elections, after which in several cities local “mayors” teamed up with ANO rather than with each other. She is not a fan of such coalitions. In Plzeň there was no chance of a different outcome from the start: ANO joined forces with the Pro Plzeň movement and won a majority of seats. In Ostrava, however, she admits an agreement was possible, and she regrets that relations became so strained. For now STAN has suspended all activity there until “heads cool down” and does not want to lecture colleagues from Prague on how to act.

Asked whether Vít Rakušan is really the leader of the future government, Urbanová answered yes: the coming weeks will show which coalitions take shape, and the party’s work will only confirm it. Success, she stressed, is “not the end of the story, but a step toward a result in three years.” She did not reveal the secret of making sure good results are not one-offs, but the point is to be among the people, explain things and avoid extremes.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz