The Social Democrats have elected new leadership at their 46th congress in Hradec Králové. Jana Maláčová, former Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, became the party's chairwoman after receiving 101 votes from the 146 valid votes of the delegates present and was elected in the first round. This is the first time that a woman has held the highest office in the party.
Former Czech Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Minister and Senator Jiří Dienstbier and Prague 12 Councillor Petr Hůla also ran for the chairmanship. Dienstbier received 33 votes and Hůla received five votes. Michal Šmarda, the party's current chair, did not run because of the party's poor results in the elections. The term of office of the presidium is three years.
In her candidate speech, Jana Maláčová harshly criticized the five-coalition government for failing to solve the economic crisis in three years: "The government has raised taxes, but we don't have better public services. We have low wages and we are outperformed by all neighbouring countries. The retirement age will rise and pensions, which the government has cut, will be increased, Finance Minister Stanjura calls economic damage. The government has put us more than CZK 900 billion in debt and economic growth is still out of sight. Education is permanently underfunded, even though the coalition has spoken of it as a priority. There is a threat of privatisation of the health service, the introduction of extra standards and charges for early screening. We pay for health insurance, but the government wants to create more fees," Maláčová listed the main failings of the current government.
"The standard of living has fallen unprecedentedly during the ODS-led government. Cooks, sanitation workers, janitors, nurses and tens of thousands of other people earn CZK 20 000. On top of that, the government has refused to give these workers a raise starting in September, and the increase in salaries for civil servants in January will be lower than Minister Stanjura promised during negotiations with the unions. Social Democracy has never allowed the standard of living of people in the Czech Republic to fall like this." added the newly elected chairwoman.
After the election, Jana Maláčová thanked all the party members and accepted congratulations from Michal Šmardy and Josef Středula, the chair of the ČMKOS union, who also came to the Social Democrats' congress.
Jana Maláčová served as Minister of Labour and Social Affairs from 2018 to 2021. She has experience as an analyst of EU funds, headed the Communication Department for EU Affairs at the Office of the Government and was also Director of the Department of Family Policy and Ageing Policy at the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic.
The delegates also elected Lubomír Zaorálek as statutory vice-president. Jiří Nedvěd, Jiří Oliva and Radek Scherfer were elected vice-chairmen of the party. Ondřej Veselý became chairman of the Central Audit Commission.
From left: chairman of the Central Audit Commission Ondřej Veselý, vice-chairman Radek Scherfer, chairwoman Jana Maláčová, statutory vice-chairman Lubomír Zaorálek and vice-chairmen Jiří Nedvěd and Jiří Oliva PHOTO - Facebook
soc.dem.cz / gnews.cz - HeK
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