Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09PRAGUE313
2009-06-04 14:26:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Prague
Cable title:  

CZECH CHRISTIAN DEMOCRAT PARTY CONGRESS ELECTS NEW

Tags:  PGOV EZ 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO0619
OO RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHNP RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHPG #0313/01 1551426
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 041426Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY PRAGUE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1436
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PRAGUE 000313 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/CE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/04/2019
TAGS: PGOV EZ
SUBJECT: CZECH CHRISTIAN DEMOCRAT PARTY CONGRESS ELECTS NEW
LEADER

Classified By: CDA MARY THOMPSON-JONES FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PRAGUE 000313

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/CE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/04/2019
TAGS: PGOV EZ
SUBJECT: CZECH CHRISTIAN DEMOCRAT PARTY CONGRESS ELECTS NEW
LEADER

Classified By: CDA MARY THOMPSON-JONES FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D)


1. (C) Summary: On May 30, the Czech Christian Democrats
(KDU-CSL) held their party congress and elected a new
chairman, Cyril Svoboda, a seasoned, pro-U.S. KDU leader.
Svoboda,s chairmanship represents a shift to the left for
the party and his major task is party unification,
fundraising and preparation ahead of the early parliamentary
elections in October. If Svoboda does not succeed, KDU could
fail to pass the 5 percent threshold for parliamentary
representation, increasing the chances for a more prominent
role in the new Czech government for the unreformed Czech
Communist party (KSCM). Svoboda,s task will be made more
difficult by the departure of Miroslav Kalousek, former
Finance Minister and a party member and leader for 25 years
who recently announced he will split from the party to start
a rival right wing party. End Summary.
--------------
The Changing of the Guard
--------------

2. (C) The biggest outcome was the decisive defeat of Jiri
Cunek, Mayor of Vsetin, a small northern Moravian city, who
quickly rose through the ranks from relative obscurity to KDU
party leadership. Some two and a half years ago, he went
from small city mayor to Senator, party leader and deputy
prime minister. However, a series of problems undermined
his leadership and his party,s position. KDU is primarily a
religious party, and its loyal base of supporters are
Christian believers; therefore, allegations of corruption
that surfaced in 2007 and a lack of party managerial
discipline damaged Cunek,s image among the party faithful
and weakened his leadership role. As mayor, Cunek took a
hard line against Roma, for example, evicting Roma families
from housing in Vsetin. However, Cunek,s harsh approach to
the Roma issue and anti-Roma policies hurt the party,s image
and Czech political analysts argue that Cunek,s incompetence
and arrogance further fractured KDU, which was already
struggling to develop a clear party platform. His coalition
with the Civic Democrats (ODS) also hurt him. Some of ODS,
policies ) like minimal health care fees ) were very
unpopular with the left wing of the KDU. When ODS PM
Topolanek lost a vote of no confidence in March, the
coalition dissolved, and Cunek lost any support he may have

had from the center-right portion of the party.

3. (SBU) Cunek chose his city, Vsetin, as the venue for the
KDU congress, hoping the home town advantage might translate
into some last minute support. Three hundred delegates came
to Vsetin to elect a new party chairperson. There were four
candidates on the ballot ) Jiri Cunek, the beleaguered
incumbent; Cyril Svoboda, the former chairman and minister;
Jan Brezina, a former governor and current Member of the
European Parliament; and Michaela Sojdrova, current Member of
Czech Parliament. The home court advantage Cunek hoped for
never materialized. After the first round, he only had 61
votes, barely 20 percent of the vote, which was not enough to
advance. Svoboda and Brezina went to the second round of
balloting, with Svoboda getting 157 votes to Brezina,s 127.
There were 16 abstentions.

4. (SBU) While Cunek,s defeat is a complete repudiation of
his leadership, it is difficult to call Svoboda,s victory a
clear mandate. Although Svoboda called for the delegates to
support David Macek as his First Deputy Chairman, Michaela
Sojdrova was ultimately selected after Macek withdrew his
name from the balloting when he did not receive a clear
majority in the first round of balloting. Sojdrova has been
in KDU since 1989 and a member of the Czech parliament since

1996. She is head of KDU,s Education Committee and Women,s
Union, and is very much focused on educational issues. Many
analysts agree that her victory as deputy chairperson was
good for the party, as she is generally viewed as a
pragmatist who can breach the left-right divide and give
KDU,s policy platform some direction.
--------------
Who Was There ) Who Wasn,t
--------------

5. (C) Unlike past conventions, President Klaus and leaders
of the potential coalition partners (CSSD and ODS) did not
attend. Each sent a short, innocuous text to be read on
their behalf, most likely because they are preoccupied with
the European Parliament campaign. However, one person who
was conspicuously present was Miroslav Kalousek. Kalousek
has been a party member for 25 years and was its chairman
from 2003 to 2006. He announced his split from KDU shortly
after PM Topolanek lost the no-confidence vote, citing KDU,s
shift to the left. Although Kalousek says he will wait until
after the European Parliamentary elections to formally leave
the party, he is already making plans to form a rival
right-wing party ) TOP 09. TOP stands for (in the Czech
language) tradition, responsibility, and prosperity. Jan
Brezina, who only lost to Svoboda by 30 votes in the runoff

PRAGUE 00000313 002 OF 002


balloting for the chairmanship, is Kalousek,s ally.
--------------
End of An Era?
--------------

6. (C) Svoboda is no stranger to KDU leadership, having
served as the chairman from 2001 to 2003. He is a seasoned
politician who has also had several Ministerial positions,
most recently the Minister of Regional Development. He is
also unabashedly pro-American. He supported missile defense,
and in an April meeting with Charge, expressed strong support
for anything that would strengthen bilateral ties. At the
same time, Svoboda,s victory represents a more pronounced
shift in KDU rhetoric from right-of-center to left-of-center.
One of Svoboda,s main tasks will be to unify the party and
prepare it for the early parliamentary elections in October.
While Kalousek and other right-wingers in the KDU thought
Cunek had left-leaning policies, Svoboda,s party will be
even more different from the one that took part in the
center-right coalition of ODS. For example, Svoboda and the
KDU announced at the congress that they will support
progressive taxation of the wealthy, a clear departure from
the flat tax supported by the former ODS government. But the
shift may not be that great. Svoboda,s narrow victory in
the second round of balloting over Brezina (a Kalousek ally)
shows that the party divide is not lopsided and Svoboda will
be constrained by the right-wing faction.

7. (C) KDU,s traditional base of support is among the older
generation in the rural villages of Moravia, where religion
is the highest priority. Even though it is the oldest party
in the country (KDU-CSL celebrates its 90th anniversary this
year) and the party experienced a slight increase in
membership in the early 90s, the party is having problems
building support and attracting new members in a country with
the highest rate of atheism in Europe. Its base of support
is dwindling and party membership has continued to drop.
Jiri Cunek noted in his speech at the congress that party
membership is currently at 37,000 members, down from 70,000
members ten years ago. In his April meeting with Charge,
Svoboda agreed that his party drew most of its support from
Moravia, but hoped that the demise of the Green Party would
create an opening for KDU among urban voters in the rest of
the Czech Republic. Svoboda is also counting on the KDU,s
refusal to join the interim government as a way to
distinguish his party from its larger, more dominant ODS and
CSSD rivals.
-------------- --------------
Svoboda,s Main Task: Shore up Voter Support
-------------- --------------

8. (C) Comment: Kalousek,s imminent departure from the
party makes more urgent the need for Svoboda to shore up
voter support for KDU. Election laws require a minimum of 5
percent of the total vote in order for a party to qualify for
seats in the parliament. Current polling shows KDU teetering
on the 5 percent brink. If the split is great and Kalousek
draws substantial numbers of right-leaning voters from KDU,
this will bode ill for KDU in October,s early elections.
Svoboda is well aware what Kalousek,s split from the party
means and the potential this has to take right-of-center
votes away from KDU in the October elections. He stated at
the party congress that, &If we want to succeed, we have to
be a party of firm internal discipline, a party unified by
its program.8 In fact, Svoboda,s nomination speech at the
party focused solely on leadership qualities ) experience,
courage, vision, discipline ) over substance. Svoboda
seemed to fully understand that the next few years will
determine the survival of KDU.

9. (C) Comment (continued): KDU,s fate may also determine
the character of the next Czech government. If KDU and the
Greens (as seems likely) fail to make the threshold, the
Czech parliament could likely have three parties:
center-left CSSD, center-right ODS, and the Communists (we
thought it wise to take these descriptors out as they could
be perceived as an election prediction). This would pose the
specter of what CSSD leader Paroubek has called a &silent8
CSSD coalition with the Communists. However, Svoboda has
ruled out any coalition involving the Communists. If CSSD
wins the elections handily and KDU manages to cross the
threshold, Svoboda would probably be willing to participate
in a CSSD coalition government, since he did last time he was
KDU chairman and he has hinted that he would do it again,
given, for example, his support of progressive taxation. End
Comment.
Thompson-Jones