PM: Regional and Senate elections will be held as planned

Prime Minister Petr Fiala (Civic Democratic Party) confirmed that the upcoming elections to regional councils and one-third of the Senate scheduled for this weekend will take place as planned. Following an extraordinary meeting of the government on its response to the flood crisis, the prime minister said that he firmly believed it was possible to overcome the complications of organizing the elections in the flood-hit regions. He assured voters that the Interior Ministry was already working on an action plan to help bring this about.

Earlier on Monday, Environment Minister Petr Hladik (Christian Democrats) said that in areas where it will not be possible to open polling stations on Friday and Saturday due to flooding or clean-up work, the ballots could be collected by specially assigned teams of volunteers. The regional and Senate elections are due to take place on Friday from 2pm till 10pm and on Saturday between 8 am and 2pm.