Pompová, Ondič, Pompová, Ondič: 15 members of one Roma family are running for election

In the village of Měrovice nad Hanou in the Olomouc Region, no fewer than 15 members of one large Roma family — the Pompas, the Ondičes and their relatives — have put together a candidate list for the upcoming Czech municipal elections. The initiative came from a local priest, and the list itself was ultimately drawn up jointly with the KDU-ČSL party, since there is no separate Roma party in the country.

The idea came from a priest

As the list's leader, Pompová, explained, the idea of going into local politics came from Father Pavel Ryšavý, who served in the village until August. "I kept telling them: just try it. They didn't want to at first, so I explained that things couldn't get any worse. That, on the contrary, they'd be able to change something and get what they wanted — a playground, for example. And that they'd be giving their time not just to the Roma community, but to the whole village," the priest recalled.

After Ryšavý was transferred from Měrovice to Zábřeh na Šumpersku, the cooperation didn't stop. "We're in touch all the time. Father Pavel is always ready to help — he's with us, even from a distance," Pompová said.

Initially, the Roma wanted to run under their own Roma party. "Since no such party exists, the priest suggested we team up with the KDU-ČSL," Pompová explained, describing how fifteen of her relatives ended up on the list of a traditional Czech party without being members of it. KDU-ČSL spokeswoman Iva Petrusová confirmed that the initiative had indeed come from the residents of Měrovice. "Local residents approached the local KDU-ČSL members, and together they put the list together. This isn't a project of our national leadership, and we didn't send anyone from Prague to assemble the list for them," she said, adding that the party had not interfered in the choice of candidates.

One family — four surnames

According to available information, three large Roma families live in the village: the Pompas, the Ondičes and the Červeňáks. The latter are not represented on the list. "Really, we're one big family with four surnames. We wanted to put forward a young list, and the Červeňáks are already a bit older. But they do cooperate with us," Pompová said.

Second on the list is her 22-year-old sister Klára; third is her father's cousin, 44-year-old Igor Ondič. Neither they nor the other twelve relatives had ever been involved in local politics before. "We're complete newcomers," the list's leader admitted with a laugh. Even so, she said, the family has a decent grasp of certain public issues: "We work with the ombudsman, for instance, and among our more distant relatives we even have a member of parliament. So we do have some perspective, and if something needs doing, we can arrange it."

The candidate list includes nine laborers, two bricklayers, a shop assistant, a salesman and two teaching assistants. Their platform focuses on developing the village, supporting families, children and the elderly, open dialogue, and preserving traditions while still moving forward.

"You won't know until you try"

If voters entrust the list with the town hall, Pompová doesn't rule out becoming mayor herself. "You won't know until you try," she said when asked whether she was afraid of becoming mayor. "I'm first in line everywhere, and I decide everything myself. The men are used to it by now," she added with a smile.

According to her, the candidates aren't running only for the sake of the Roma minority. "We're not just running for the Roma. We want to make ourselves heard, because there's discrimination in the village. We can't get anything done, we've got problems here. We want to get the village moving and show that we're ready to act," Pompová said.

Měrovice nad Hanou, located between Kojetín and Němčice nad Hanou, has a population of around 700. A large Roma community settled here in the 1980s. Exactly how many residents identify as Roma today isn't known for certain: some estimates put it at around a tenth of the population, though Pompová herself is convinced there are far more Roma in the village. "More than two hundred, and that's just the adults," she stressed.

Source: novinky.cz