PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC: The Czech Republic’s right-wing center, the SPD, which could be part of a new Czech government next month, is demanding that the cabinet propose legislation that could lead to a referendum on leaving the European Union (EU), its leader Tomio Okamura said on Wednesday. .
The populist pro-EU-ANO party, led by Prime Minister Andrej Babis, is likely to win the majority of votes in the October 8 and 9 elections, but when its current partners vote at or below the 5% threshold to enter Parliament, the party may not be able to form a majority government.
Because two major opposition groups refuse to enter the government with Babis, the founder of a business empire may, because of what they claim are his conflicts of interest, Okamura’s anti-European and anti-NATO SPD, or Freedom and Direct Democracy, come in talking to ANO.
Opinion polls put the party’s support at about 10 percent.
Okamura stressed that his award is a promise to propose a law on referendums, which could enable a citizen’s petition to propose a referendum, allowing his party to organize a referendum.
After meeting with President Milos Zeman, Okamura told reporters: “One of the basic conditions is that the government manifesto should include a referendum law that will lead to a referendum on leaving the EU or possibly NATO,” according to Reuters.
Although a July poll by the CVVM news agency showed that 66 percent of Czechs support EU membership, compared to 28 percent who say the country should leave, the SDP has for many years proposed that the Czech Republic leave the EU and hold a referendum on EU exit . .
The Babis government has opposed a general referendum law, and all proposed referendum legislation would require a three-fifths majority in both parliaments to be approved.
The Czech Senate is elected under a first-post-post system that has been postponed for six years, which usually prevents the election of extreme candidates.