“It could decide who will be first and second”: Expert on postal vote bill
Following days of filibustering, the lower house on Thursday approved a government proposal to allow postal voting for Czechs living abroad. The governing coalition wants the bill, which faces two more readings in the lower house, approved in time for the 2025 parliamentary elections. I spoke to political scientist Petr Just about its significance and its chances of winning approval.
“I think the chances are quite high since the ruling coalition has a comfortable majority in both parliamentary chambers, and this is an electoral law which must be approved by both chambers equally. There is no possibility for the lower chamber to override the veto of the upper chamber since electoral laws have a special status. Since the government has a comfortable majority in both chambers, it’s very likely that the law will be adopted in time for the 2025 general elections and be used for the first time by Czechs living abroad.”
So having gone through one reading, you think it should sail fairly smoothly through two more?
“It’s very likely. We will again likely experience filibustering by the opposition, which might only prolong the proceedings, but they have no strength or power to stop them. It’s very likely that the law will pass, there might be some minor amendments or changes, but I do not expect major changes to the bill, so the basic structure should remain as it was in the first reading.”
So other than delaying the process through filibustering, the opposition can’t block it?
“The opposition could use one more tool, and I am pretty sure they will use this tool, and that’s filing a constitutional complaint. They could file a complaint to the Constitutional Court asking them to do a judicial review. Under Czech law, the court can review laws that were passed by Parliament, and the judges can review whether or not the law is in accordance with the constitution. This might be the only obstacle to the adoption of the law. If the Constitutional Court finds there are some unconstitutional features, they have the power to reject the law so it would not come into effect.”
When it comes down to it, what’s the value of having these foreign votes – does it have the power to sway the results of an election?
“That’s a difficult question because we do not know how many Czechs abroad would use the right to vote by post. The state of course has a register of how many passports have been issued. But if you are a Czech intending to travel and stay abroad you are not required to report this to the respective embassy. Once the embassies open the registers for voting by post, we will see how many people actually register.
“If they want to vote by post, they have to be included in the register of the respective country from which they will be voting. The estimates are that it could be used by 200,000 to 600,000 people – but this is quite a broad estimate and we will likely not know how many will use it until the registers open. In general, we expect that the postal votes will not radically change the political party landscape in Czechia.
“However with marginal differences between political parties, as we witnessed in the 2021 elections when the winning alliance won by a very small margin, it could decide who will be first and who second. This would be the only impact on the elections, however it would probably not radically change the landscape of the political environment in Czechia.”
