Czech Republic: Okamura to lead parliament
Tomio Okamura, leader of the far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy Party (SPD), has been nominated as speaker of the Czech Chamber of Deputies. He was the candidate of the new centre-right coalition led by Prime Minister-designate Andrej Babiš and was elected despite a heated debate in which he was accused of having racist and pro-Russian views.
The country has lost a piece of its dignity
Forum24 sees Czech democracy in acute danger:
“It's quite possible that today the Czech Republic has crossed the proverbial Rubicon - the point of no return beyond which nothing will ever be the same again. Society will grow accustomed to things that were previously unimaginable. ... The destruction of post-November-1989 democracy is progressing. We should not let ourselves be lulled into a false sense of security. We have just lost a significant part of the trust we worked so hard to build. Trust is at stake now, but so are many other things, such as freedom and democracy. Tomio Okamura at the head of the Chamber of Deputies is a symbol of the loss of dignity of the Czech Republic.”
That's democracy for you
Lidové noviny has no understanding for the tense mood in the Czech parliament:
“It is not a question of whether one likes Okamura or not. His election is the result of the political reality: the Okamura party is in a coalition with the victorious ANO and the Motorists' Party. Backed by 108 votes, it was decided that Tomio Okamura would become speaker of the Chamber of Deputies. As soon as the opposition parties manage to secure more than 100 seats they can easily pick someone from their own ranks as speaker.”