Four losers and four winners.
This year's general election has some winners and some losers. Two left-wing parties remained on top and are among the losers. The democratic ČSSD and the extreme KSČM may have paid the price for their direct and indirect participation in the previous government led by Andrej Babiš, but above all they failed to offer anything intelligible, including credible leaders. In particular, the Communists missed a good opportunity to reach out to the young generation with a protest, revolutionary, environmental program presented by a new, renewed leadership that would have defined itself against the stale and repulsive past represented by nomenklatura cadres like Filip, Semelová, Ondráček, Skála, Grospič and Luzar. The ČSSD tried, sort of, but engaging Maláčová and Stropnický proved to be a bad idea, mainly because of their desperate amateurism and poor judgment of the situation. Another loser is Yes. With no coalition potential towards gaining support for an eventual government, and with the SPD the only possible supporter (neither winner nor loser), this looks like just a variant of the undignified prolongation of an unsustainable situation. The last loser is the Pirates. Great expectations, backed by a vigorous entry, have hit limits in the form of unconvincing statements and apparent immaturity. The mere four seats gained after the ringing of their own candidates means that the Pirates will have a completely marginal position in the expected 100-strong electorate, notwithstanding the likelihood of direct government involvement. The election winners are rejoicing. ODS, TOP 09, KDU-ČSL and STAN have managed to outpoll ANO and are preparing to take over governmental responsibility. For all four of these parties, the joint gain of one hundred and four seats is both a somewhat unexpected success and a major commitment. They find the country in a bad shape, with a large budget deficit, an unresolved pandemic, declining education levels, rising inflation, a bad housing situation, protracted scandals, an unclear situation in the Castle and, above all, floundering in the search for social values. All this and much more needs to be put right, or at least kick-started. A difficult task for two hundred MPs, more than half of whom are newcomers. And an even harder task for the new government.