“It’s a political mistake”: Czech president to miss local elections over private holiday

President Petr Pavel has come in for criticism after his office announced that he will not vote in local elections on Friday and Saturday because he is on a private holiday. Czech heads of state almost always take part in elections, so is Mr. Pavel’s decision to stay away a political misstep?

In the past, Petr Pavel has described municipal elections as being among the most important for ordinary Czechs, as they have an impact on their immediate surroundings.

Now, however, the head of state has faced a barrage of criticism after announcing he would not be taking part in local elections being held across Czechia this Friday and Saturday.

The reason: A private holiday, which his office said last week had been accidentally arranged at the time of the votes.

Petr Pavel |Photo: Lucie Heyzlová, Czech Radio

There have been media reports that his advisors had tried in vain to persuade the president to abandon his trip to a motor rally in Morocco and turn up at the polling station in the village of Černouček in north Bohemia, where he has his official residence.

Some commentators expect that Mr. Pavel will stand for re-election when his current term ends. So does failing to take part in the municipal elections represent a political risk? That’s a question I put to Miloš Gregor, a political scientist at Masaryk University.

“Of course it’s a political mistake. I wouldn’t call it a major political crisis or something like that. The problem is mainly symbolic. The  president is expected – and Petr Pavel does so quite often – to encourage citizens to participate in democratic processes, such as elections. And as he’s missing this election because of his holiday, it can be deployed in the campaign against him when he runs for re-election.”

Mr. Gregor points out, however, that if Mr. Pavel does stand again, voting in the presidential election won’t take place until January 2028, which is some time away.

Miloš Gregor|Photo: Khalil Baalbaki, Czech Radio

“There will be many, many political situations, many crises, unfortunately, many scandals that will be discussed. And I don’t believe that in one year from now people will remember that Pavel missed the elections to the municipalities.”

The president’s wife, Eva Pavlová, has also become involved in the debate surrounding her husband’s actions.

In a statement on social media, Czechia’s First Lady said that given that the local election dates were enshrined in law, the state should allow voters to cast their ballots from abroad, as well as from parts of the Czech Republic other than their own constituencies.

Miloš Gregor says this hasn’t helped her husband very much.

“If we talk about remote voting, that would probably be applied to elections to the Senate, presidential elections, European Parliament elections or elections to the Chamber of Deputies – but definitely not for municipalities. As we can see from the reactions, not only from political opponents but also from advisors of the president, this claim was unfortunate.”

Photo: Martin Faltejsek

Polls open in Czech municipalities at 2 p.m. on Friday and will close at the same time the following day. Elections are also being held for one-third of Senate seats.