Czech Pirates win a seat in Senate

Libor Michalek, a known whistleblower, won the senatorial elections in the most watched electoral precinct in the Czech Republic, Prague 2 and 3. Michalek ran for the Senate on a coalition ballot of Pirates, Greens and the Christian Democrats. He was formally nominated by the Pirate Party. Pirates are thus represented in a national parliament for the first time in history.

"Libor Michalek was a good choice. Pirates will be, however, more interested in the next six years of his work than in his victory. Two-way communication and openness was the condition of his nomination. The decision to nominate Michalek was not made by the party heads but by the whole member base in a vote where 85% of the members supported his nomination. We want to provide him with as much Pirate support as possible so that he could better promote financial transparency and access to information. Values that are crucial not only for the Pirates, but also for Libor Michalek, "said Pirates' Chairman Ivan Bartos.

"I am very pleasantly surprised because since the Civic Democrats, the Party of Free Citizens and unofficially also the TOP09 (translation note: neoliberal conservative party) expressed their support for Mr. Krecek. I think that the promotion of a candidate of their competitor (translation note: Social Democrats - the biggest parliamentarian party, Civic Democrats are number 2) from these parties is caused by the fact that all these parties don't want anybody new to meddle in their political affairs. People are disgusted by politics, be it left or right side of the political spectrum, so much that I am glad that citizens supported me, at least. My program is simple, clear, and is published in 12 points on the Internet. I see overpricing of public contracts as the biggest problem, "said Libor Michalek about his victory.

"For us, it now means that Pirates as the nominating party gained representation in the Senate. Libor Michalek is now facing a difficult task to work on making the financial affairs of the state and public institutions fully transparent. As a senator, he will also have better access to documents and we expect that he will continue to draw attention of the public to the current problems and cases, "says Jakub Michalek, First Vice-president of Pirates and a namesake of Libor Michalek.