House Rep. Jiri Slegr

[Tomas]

He was just elected to the Czech House of Representatives. Slegr finished second right behind his Party's (Czech Social Democrats) leader Jiri Paroubek in the province Slegr ran. In a strange twist, the rather unpopular and arrogant Paroubek resigned later in the evening, despite his party winning the elections (with 22% of the popular votes). Social Democrats were expected to win 32%-35%, and to form the new left-wing government (with the silent support of Communists). Instead, they got only 56 votes out of total 200 and even the silent 26 Communist votes would bring them nowhere to 101.

So, if Slegr indeed stays in the Parliament, he will live a life of an opposition politician.

[Tico Rick]

There's still a Communist Party in Cz? In general, how popular is it? Is it mostly made up of old people?

[Mongoose87]

There's still a Communist Party in Cz? In general, how popular is it? Is it mostly made up of old people?

You'd think the people that remember Communism would be the people most against it. Maybe they liked sawdust sausages.

[Tico Rick]

There's still a Communist Party in Cz? In general, how popular is it? Is it mostly made up of old people?

You'd think the people that remember Communism would be the people most against it. Maybe they liked sawdust sausages.

Nah. Old people like "the good old days."

[muffinarm]

I will always remember Slegr's goal that beat Toronto in game 3 of the eastern conf. semis in 1999.

[Mongoose87]

There's still a Communist Party in Cz? In general, how popular is it? Is it mostly made up of old people?

You'd think the people that remember Communism would be the people most against it. Maybe they liked sawdust sausages.

Nah. Old people like "the good old days."

In the USSR, they weren't really "good old days." There's was a lot of discontent, particularly in the non-Russia countries.

[Tico Rick]

You'd think the people that remember Communism would be the people most against it. Maybe they liked sawdust sausages.

Nah. Old people like "the good old days."

In the USSR, they weren't really "good old days." There's was a lot of discontent, particularly in the non-Russia countries.

Actually, most of the support for the "good old days" in the USSR, including May Day celebrations and pro-Stalinist marches, comes from older citizens, which is why I asked Tomas the question about Czechia.

[pens#1]

this is Penguin related

[Kicksave]

this is Penguin related

how?

[Tomas]

There's still a Communist Party in Cz? In general, how popular is it? Is it mostly made up of old people?

Yes, Communists still exist. And yes, their supporters are primarily older people - so their proportional gains have been getting lower over the last 20 years. This year, the results were as follows:
Czech Social Democratic Party (standard European left-wing party)
22.1% (56 seats)
Civic Democratic Party (standard European right-wing party, used to be quite Euro-skeptic, now they seem to be embracing Europe more)
20.2% (53 seats)
TOP 09 (new Euro-centric right-wing party for people who think Civic Democrats are too corrupted and unwilling to balance the budget fast)
16.7% (41 seats)
Communists (extreme left-wing party)
11.3% (26 seats)
Public Affairs (new rather populist, anti-old-establishment party, leaning center-right)
10.9% (24 seats)

(the rest of the parties received below 5%, which is the minimal treshold to get any seats)

It looks that the coallition of Civic Democrats + TOP 09 + Public Affairs will be able to form what they already call "The Government of Budget Responsibility", and have the comfortable majority of 118 seats in 200-member Parliament.

[Tico Rick]

There's still a Communist Party in Cz? In general, how popular is it? Is it mostly made up of old people?

Yes, Communists still exist. And yes, their supporters are primarily older people - so their proportional gains have been getting lower over the last 20 years. This year, the results were as follows:
Czech Social Democratic Party (standard European left-wing party)
22.1% (56 seats)
Civic Democratic Party (standard European right-wing party, used to be quite Euro-skeptic, now they seem to be embracing Europe more)
20.2% (53 seats)
TOP 09 (new Euro-centric right-wing party for people who think Civic Democrats are too corrupted and unwilling to balance the budget fast)
16.7% (41 seats)
Communists (extreme left-wing party)
11.3% (26 seats)
Public Affairs (new rather populist, anti-old-establishment party, leaning center-right)
10.9% (24 seats)

(the rest of the parties received below 5%, which is the minimal treshold to get any seats)

It looks that the coallition of Civic Democrats + TOP 09 + Public Affairs will be able to form what they already call "The Government of Budget Responsibility", and have the comfortable majority of 118 seats in 200-member Parliament.

What, no SEP (Soff Euro Party)?

It seems strange that there would be a "Euro-centric right-wing party" as TOP 09 is, but I guess one could be both fiscally conservative and in favor of European integration.

Interesting stuff. thanks, Tomas.

[ShaPe]

No green party in Czech Tomas?

[Tomas]

No green party in Czech Tomas?

"Greens" were one of the big losers this time. They had something like 6% in 2006, so they had some seats in the Parliament. This weekend, they fell down to 2.4%. Which means that they will be neither in the Parliament (5% threshold), nor they will receive state recurrent annual subsidy (3% threshold) at least until the next Parliamentary elections. Surprisingly, they seem to have quite a low support even amond high-school students (future voters) and 18-30 year old voters.

[Tomas]

First speech:


With the Speaker of the House:


Next to Mayor Joe Quimby of Springfield: (actually, Slegr's mentor, the very unpopular ex-leager of Social Democrats)


On the way to work:


And Katerina Klasnova, the Vice Speaker of the House



More about that here: http://online.wsj.com/article/NA_WSJ_PU ... 32760.html

[pensfan1989]

Katerina Klasnova > Nancy Pelosi. Just sayin'

[Mongoose87]

I'd let her speak at my house.

[WWGRD]

[Tomas]

And, (un)like any typical politician:

http://translate.google.com/translate?j ... enize.html

(Since google does not always translate correctly - the actual headline is: "At this point, I just want money from him." Also, he cheated on her, for four years.)

[Tomas]

I thought you might want to know:

http://translate.google.com/translate?j ... lenec.html

[llipgh2]

I thought you might want to know:

http://translate.google.com/translate?j ... lenec.html

I literally laughed out loud at the comment "largest natural breasts in Czech show business".

[Armyrulez]

I thought you might want to know:

http://translate.google.com/translate?j ... lenec.html

I literally laughed out loud at the comment "largest natural breasts in Czech show business".

SUCCESS!!

[Tomas]

Slegr turned 40. Here is an interesting interview:

http://translate.google.com/translate?j ... entace_cig

[Point Breeze Penguins]

So TOP09 is basically the Czech Tea-Party?

[Tomas]

Because you all need some distraction to take you away from the Jagr drama:

http://translate.google.com/translate?j ... odech.html

[Tomas]

Slegr made quite a risky career decision today. Slegr's mentor, Jiri Paroubek, left the Social Democratic Party (Paroubek used to be the party's Chairman until the last year) to form a new subject likely called "National Socialists - Left Party for the 21st Century." Slegr (together with just two out of 56 Social Democrats in the House of Representatives) followed him. None of the 4 people resigned from the Parliament, but their new party will have quite a difficult time to break the 5% threshold to get any seats during the next elections in 2014 (after all, they want to be more "left" than Social Democrats, but that part of the spectrum already has still quite powerful Communists).

Had Slegr not left, he would likely be set for a long time (1+ year after the last elections, Social Democrats majorly thrash the right-wing governmental parties in every poll these days).