Pirate Party to vote on leaving the government

The National Forum of the Pirate Party will vote on whether the party should leave the government following their leader’ s dismissal from government posts. The prime minister’s announcement on Tuesday that he would propose the dismissal of Pirate Party leader Ivan Bartoš from his post as deputy prime minister and minister for regional development has precipitated the most serious government crisis since the Fiala administration took office.

Prime Minister Fiala stressed that his decision to sack Bartoš for incompetence did not mean that he wanted to terminate the coalition agreement with the Pirate Party as such and stressed that he was highly satisfied with the work of the party’s two other ministers - Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský and Minister for Legislation Michal Šalomoun.

However the Pirates see it as a breach of the coalition agreement and there have been mounting calls for the party to walk out of the government. The party’s National Forum is to vote on the matter online from Friday 27 September until Monday 30 September.

Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský, who is attending the 79th session of the UN Generally Assembly in New York, has said that if the Pirate Party decides to leave the government he will offer his resignation and simultaneously leave the ranks of the Pirate Party. Lipavský said he could not identify with some of the statements made about the government at Tuesday’s press conference of the Pirate Party.