Czech political scene increasingly polarized ahead of regional and Senate elections
As the election campaign heats up in Czechia, tensions are high and some parties have resorted to controversial tactics. A racist billboard in Prague has sparked outrage and lawsuits.
Tomio Okamura, leader of the Freedom and Direct Democracy Party, speaks in front of a big billboard in Wenceslas Square. There is an image of a Black man looking directly into the camera with a huge bloodied knife raised threateningly. The sign says: “Shortcomings of Czech healthcare will not be solved by imported surgeons,” with a label “censored” added under the photograph. This billboard and the campaign spot epitomize the sometimes hysterical and openly racist anti-immigration narrative of extreme Czech parties, says Pavel Havlíček, an analyst at the Association for International Affairs think tank:
"I think that this is really a typical example of how controversial and polarized the upcoming parliamentary campaign will be, which has already technically started with the upcoming regional and Senate elections. This is a good example of how most of the limits of the past are now broken, and most things will unfortunately be possible to say in the public space."
However, extreme right-wing parties are not the only actors contributing to the polarization of the Czech political scene. President Petr Pavel recently criticized the governing parties for their negative campaign against the opposition.
“Definitely, this is the role of institutions, and the presidential office is one of those. I'm hopeful that things will get better, even though in the coming months, I assume we will see more of this really harsh rhetoric and statements coming from different parts of the political spectrum."
Recently, we've seen the rise of extreme right-wing parties in some German regions, France is politically bitterly divided, and Hungary's Viktor Orbán and Slovakia's Robert Fico also seem to be using ever harsher language and tactics. In this context, isn't the Czech political scene still fairly peaceful?
"Well, peaceful is probably not the word I would normally use, but in that sense, it might actually be a little less polarized. That's why I deliberately use 'rather polarized' rather than 'hardcore polarized.' It’s definitely the case in other parts of Europe and other countries, including, for example, the current political situation in the countries you mentioned, as well as neighboring Poland, where most of the limits are already broken and state institutions, including the legal system, are essentially destroyed."
So what can we expect from the upcoming elections?
"My expectation is that it is going to be a really bumpy road. We will hear a lot from both the ruling party coalition and the opposition. We might go so far as to lose some basic consensus, and this also applies to our support for Ukraine or punishing Russia for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine over the last two and a half years. So, for example, when labeling part of the coalition as 'Putin-friendly' or 'Russia-friendly,' we need to be very cautious about that.”
