The pirates celebrated 15 years after the debacle and presented candidates for the Senate. He will also support Hilšer or Drahoš

With the support of the Pirate Party, 11 people will be candidates in this year’s senate elections. Lukáš Wagenknecht, a member of the Pirates, will defend the senatorial seat. The party will also support the defense of Marek Hilšer and Jiří Drahoš from the Starostů club. Jan Janda, Miroslav Jiránek, Eva Tylova and Andrea Švojgrová will also be sent to the Senate elections by the Pirates. The candidates presented themselves at the celebrations of 15 years since the founding of the Pirate Party at the Prague Exhibition Centre. Everyone wants to strengthen the liberal wing in the Senate. At the same time, the leaders for the regional elections also presented themselves. In those, the Pirates want to focus mainly on healthcare, education or the environment.

Economist and auditor Wagenknecht will defend the mandate in Prague 8, doctor and university teacher Hilšer in Prague 2, and scientist Drahoš in Prague 4. Sušick representative Janda is running for Domažlicka, where Vladislav Vilímec (ODS) is now a senator. Doctor Švojgrová for the Benešov district, where Zdeněk Hraba (independent) is currently a senator, Tylová would like to replace current senator Pavel Fischer (independent) in Prague 12 and Jiránek for Litoměřice then Ladislav Chlupač (ODS).

In addition to them, the Pirates are supported according to the party chairman and the Deputy Prime Minister for Digitization, Ivan Bartoš also candidates for the senate for SEN 21 Michaela Tejmlová running for the Jablonec district, Přemysl Rabas for Chomutov and Jiří Řehák in Teplice. The party also supports Miroslav Balatka (STAN), who is running in Sokolov.

The Pirates also presented the leaders for the regional elections, which will take place on the same date as the elections for one third of the Senate, i.e. on September 20 and 21. They mainly want to focus on healthcare, education, the environment or digitization. They will try to keep young people in the regions and fight corruption. They would also like to develop services and medical care here. Zuzana Klusová, an unelected candidate for the European Parliament this year, will apply for the position of governor in the Moravian-Silesian region, or Rudolf Špoták, the current governor of the Pilsen region, will try to defend his position.

On Saturday, the republican committee of the party met to discuss the campaign and the results of the elections to the European Parliament. After winning 13.95 percent of the vote in the 2019 election, the Pirates dropped to 6.20 percent this year. The party aimed for up to four seats, but the mandate was defended only by the current MEP and number two candidate Markéta Gregorová. Bartoš called it a big disappointment a week ago. After Saturday’s meeting of the committee, Bartoš said that the reforms of the Pirate Party’s internal functioning and campaigns must be carried out by the end of next month. Significant narrowing should apply to administrative and media groups. Gregorová added before the meeting that a change in campaigns could help make the party more visible. According to her, regional elections should not look so tragic.