European Elections fail to get Czech hearts beating
Throughout Europe, the elections to the European Parliament this weekend have failed to arouse enthusiasm or passion. Here in the Czech Republic the elections are a historic moment, coming just six weeks after the country joined the EU. But as Rob Cameron found out, when he took to the streets of Prague, opinion polls predicting a low turn-out and little voter interest, seem to be well-founded:
[1st Man]: "Well, I'm not sure, I'm not much interested, but I guess that in the end I will vote."
Will you vote in the European Parliament elections?
[2nd Man]: "Of course."
Do you know who you will vote for yet, which party?
"Not yet."
So you haven't decided?
"Yes."
How important do you think these elections are for your country?
[3rd Man]: "I don't know. It's difficult because I am from another city and I don't know the conditions - if I can vote in Prague when my home is in another city."
How important do you think these elections are for your country?
"I have to lie, because I don't really know, but I think they're important, they must be important, aren't they?"
So why have these historic elections failed to capture the Czech imagination? For an answer to that question Rob asked analyst Jiri Pehe:
"Well I think there are several possible explanations. One of them is a relatively low level of knowledge about the European Union and European institutions. There has not been much explaining in the Czech Republic and people simply do not know much about European institutions. Another reason I think is that Czechs are pragmatic people, and they understand that the European Parliament is not a very important institution."
If the opinion polls are to be believed, it is two Eurosceptic parties, the right-of-centre Civic Democrats and the Communists - both opposition parties - which are going to sweep the board and claim the lion's share of the seats. What explains this? Why will Czech Eurosceptic parties do so well?
"First I am not convinced that the results in the end will confirm this. The lower the turn-out, the more people who are actually interested in European politics will actually vote. Here we will probably get voters who are interested in the European Union, and that may in the end damage the Eurosceptic parties, because people who are interested in the European Union will not vote for the Communist Party."
Nonetheless, the parties of the ruling coalition, especially the main party, the Social Democrats, appear to be doing quite badly in the polls. This is the government which negotiated the country's successful application to join the European Union. The voters aren't being very grateful to them, are they?
"No, I think many voters see this as mid-term parliamentary elections."
So this is about domestic politics, not about Europe?
"I think that these European elections in the Czech Republic are probably, of all the new countries, most focused on domestic politics. One reason for this is the weakness of the current government. The government is very unpopular and it has just completed a round of reforms which are not yet digested, let's say - they are unpopular - and many people see these elections as an opportunity to simply slap the government, and this is what we will see."
