Mirek Topolánek defends post as Civic Democrat leader
Civic Democrat leader Mirek Topolánek scored a half victory at the 20th Civic Democrat Party congress that took place in Prague over the weekend. The former prime minister successfully fought off plans to have him ousted as party leader. But the price he paid might prove too high in the run-up for next year’s general elections.
Some 450 delegates of the strongest Czech right-of centre party met at Prague’s Clarion Hotel on Friday to discuss the party’s programme ahead of the general elections scheduled for next May. But first, some key issues had to be resolved – particularly whether it should be Mirek Topolánek who will lead the party to the polls. However, it soon became clear that Mr Topolánek’s opponents, including deputy chair Petr Gandalovič, were way too weak to oust the party boss.
After winning the first round, Mirek Topolánek went into the offensive. As part of his continued campaign against some corrupt regional party bosses, he criticized the practice of accepting new party members for the sole purpose of bolstering the position of regional leaders. They are dubbed by the media as “black souls”.
“Our most urgent problem is accepting black souls, and the regionalization or privatization of Civic Democrat politics. But let me say clearly – this is not a conflict between me and the regional godfathers, as the press dubbed them. I do not screen regional politicians. I do not ask, ‘who speaks on your behalf?’ but rather, ‘have your representatives been elected in free and fair competition or not?’”
Behind closed doors, the congress in the end approved Mr Topolánek’s suggestion to alter the party statutes so that the weight of a particular branch is no longer based on the number of its members, but rather on the number of votes the party receives in the constituency. His critics of course point out that he’s been the party head for seven years but only tackled the issue when his opponents wanted him out of office.
