Who will run Prague: four coalition scenarios after the election

According to preliminary results, the Prague election has been won by the STAN movement led by Petr Hlaváček, with more than 23% of the vote, while ODS trails by about one percentage point. Based on current counts, both forces will get 17 seats on the city council. It is now STAN that will lead negotiations on a new coalition at City Hall.

ODS’s lead candidate on the “Together for Prague” ticket, Tomáš Portlík, conceded second place before midnight and acknowledged the winner’s right to the mayor’s post: “We will meet Hlaváček, we have already agreed to. The winner is entitled to the mayor’s office, and we do not dispute that.” Hlaváček himself said he has grown fond of the mayor’s role, but did not comment yet on who will get which posts on the council. STAN intends to hold talks in the order of the election results: first with Together, then with Prague for Itself and the Pirates. Hlaváček plans to meet Portlík as early as Sunday.

Option one: STAN and ODS

An alliance of the winners and the runners-up looks the most likely: both parties preferred it even before the election, and they already sit together in the current Prague coalition (along with the Pirates). But both sides are calling for a more solid majority: STAN and ODS alone would hold just 34 of 65 seats. According to our information, there is demand within ODS for a “third in the company,” with a preference for Prague for Itself rather than the Pirates: there were disputes in the current coalition, especially between ODS and the Pirates.

A third partner and intransigence

Hlaváček did not specify which third partner STAN prefers. For Prague for Itself, which finished ahead of the Pirates, public insistence on portfolios may become a problem: its leader Adam Scheinherr wants to oversee transport. According to a source in the STAN leadership, such intransigence could hurt him. Hlaváček noted that Scheinherr had spoken about transport before the election as well.

A coalition without ODS and the role of ANO

A coalition of liberal parties modeled on 2018–2022 was also discussed: STAN, Prague for Itself and the Pirates, with ODS outside the city leadership. The Pirates advocated this option before the election, but STAN chairman Vít Rakušan was skeptical: “Perhaps we will not have to choose between ODS and the Pirates.” He recalled that before the election he refused to rule out a coalition with Together.

The ANO movement, which finished fourth, could in theory offer Portlík the mayor’s post, but according to the almost final results, ODS and ANO together do not have a majority. Nobody seriously considers a broad coalition with ANO either: Rakušan said the past week convinced him that STAN does not want to cooperate with ANO, because the party made him the target of a negative campaign.

Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz