New Chamber of Deputies elects speaker

Markéta Pekarová Adamová of the TOP 09 party, a member of the centre-right Together coalition that won the October elections, was elected Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday, receiving 102 of the 122 total votes. The Chamber also elected five deputy speakers - Jan Skopeček (Civic Democrats), Jan Bartošek (Christian Democrats), Věra Kovářová (Mayors and Independents), Jana Mračková Vildumetzová (ANO) and Olga Richterová (Pirates).

Ms Pekarová Adamová is the second woman ever to hold the speaker position, the first being Miroslava Němcová (2010-2013). In her acceptance speech, the new speaker said that the Chamber of Deputies should primarily focus on respectfully representing the whole of society, putting forward quality before quantity. Speaking to Czech Television shortly after her elections, Ms Pekarová Adamová said that she wants to meet with President Miloš Zeman and Senate Speaker Miloš Vystrčil as soon as possible and that she intends to visit Slovakia on her first official foreign trip.

The Chamber of Deputies also voted on expanding the number of deputy speakers from five to six. However, with neither Radek Vondráček of ANO nor Tomio Okamura of the Freedom and Direct Democracy Party receiving a sufficient number of seats, the sixth deputy speaker position remains unfilled. The Chamber is expected to nominate new candidates for the position, most likely ahead of the next meeting of the lower-house on November 23.