Plzeň municipal election in 2014 was held as part of 2014 Czech municipal elections. It was held on 10 and 11 October 2014. ANO 2011 received the highest number of votes but Civic Democratic Party (ODS) and Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) won the same number of seats in the City's assembly. Civic Democratic Party ruled in Plzeň more than 20 years but was expected to lose its positions and receive only 10% of votes. In an electoral upset, ODS received more than 17%. Leader of local Civic Democrats Martin Baxa said that he believes that ODS was the actual victor of the election. Voter turnout was 33.73%.

The coalition between Civic Democratic Party, Czech Social Democratic Party, Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party and Citizens Patriots was formed on 18 October. Social Democrat Martin Zrzavecký became Mayor of Plzeň while Civic Democrat Baxa his First Deputy.

Parties contesting the election ANO 2011 Centrist ANO 2011 was led by MP Pavel Šrámek. ANO was considered one of the front-runners in the city. ANO wanted to focus on analysis of city's public debt and on Traffic. Šrámek stated that he would organise European Capital of Culture more humbly.

Christian and Democratic Union - Czechoslovak People's Party (KDU-ČSL) Centrist KDU-ČSL was led by Petr Náhlík. KDU-ČSL aimed at traffic and city's debt during the election.

Citizens Patriots (OPAT) Local party OPAT was formed in July 2014 by parties Občané.cz and Patriots. I was led by Marcel Hájek. OPAT won support of many celebrities from Plzeň such as Director Václav Chaloupek or Ice Hockey Player Michal Dvořák.

Civic Democratic Party (ODS) Centre-right ODS was led by incumbent Mayor Martin Baxa. Baxa stated that the main task for incoming City Council would be European Capital of Culture 2015 and use of its potential. Party was expected to lose heavily and many visible personas of ODS left the party and ran for different formations. Party focused during its campaign to presenting its successes in previous years. Priorities for 2014-2018 were European Capital of Culture, continuity of Traffic buildings and Tram Line to Borská pole.

Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM) KSČM was led by Václav Štekl.

Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) Centre-left ČSSD was led by Martin Zrzavecký. ČSSD ruled in grand coalition with ODS since 2010. Party's priorities was drawing subsidies from European Union, investment to Science and Traffic. ČSSD was front-runner according to polls.

Right Choice for Plzeň (PVP) Local party led by Vladimír Duchek. The party focused on building of infrastructure and fight against gambling.

TOP 09 Centre-right TOP 09 was led by MP Ondřej Ženíšek. TOP 09 aimed for European Capital of Culture and closure of the city to cars. It also opposed Gambling in the city and corruption.

Campaign

Civic Democratic Party led campaign with slogan "Plzeň is different" with subtitle "We didn't play a theatre, we build it." Party's billboards used blue colour which contrasted with campaign of other parties that used white colour. ODS presented itself by successes of its rule over the city in previous term. Campaign of Civic Democrats was awarded by 8 Golden Ballot Awards. Campaign of ODS was manufactured by Adam Hejl, Michal Kupilík and Petr Sokol.

Civic Democratic Party was expected to receive less than 10% of votes and ANO 2011 was front-runner along with Czech Social Democratic Party. Civic Democratic Party eventually came second and won 10 seats. The same number was won by ANO 2011 and Social Democratic Party.

Opinion polling PublishedCompanyČSSDANOTOP 09OPATKSČMODSKDUČSLSzPVZPPVPSSODSZZpPothers 11 October 2014 Election 16.5 17.9 9.1 7.3 8.3 17.6 5.7 4.8 2.9 2.7 2.2 0.1 2.5 2.4 29 September 2014 Sanep 20.3-23.8 18.2-22.6 11.9-12.6 8.6-12.2 8.4-9.8 7.1-10.4 4.1-6.2 3.2-6.0 3.5-6.1 3.9-5.3 2.1-3.2 1.8-3.1 0.6-3.0 >3 11 September 2014 Sanep 20.5-23.9 17.9-22.1 11.7-12.4 7.8-10.4 8.4-9.8 7.8-9.6 4.1-6.3 3.1-6.1 3.4-5.9 4.1-5.6 2.1-3.1 1.9-3.0 0.6-3.0 >3 20–21 October 2013 2013 legislative election 20.318.9 15.1 0.3Freeholder Party result 11.8 11.3 5.0 6.8Result of Pirates, Greens and Change movement 5.0Dawn result N/A 3.0 N/A N/A 2.6

Results PartyLeaderVotes%Seats ANO 2011 Pavel Šrámek 329,815 17.90 10 Civic Democratic Party Martin Baxa 323,390 17.55 10 Czech Social Democratic Party Martin Zrzavecký 303,042 16.45 10 TOP 09 Ondřej Ženíšek 166,696 9.05 5 Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia Václav Štěkl 152,903 8.30 5 Citizens Patriots Marcel Hájek 134,761 7.31 4 Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party Petr Náhlík 104,535 5.67 3 Together for Plzeň Petr Vaněk 88,100 4.78 0 Public Interests of Plzeň Dita Portová 53,661 2.91 0 Right Choice for Plzeň Vladimír Duchek 50,469 2.74 0 Change for Plzeň Martin Marek 45,763 2.48 0 Party of Free Citizens Jan Zavadil 41,131 2.23 0 Plzeň for Sport Naděžda Mauleová 32,906 1.79 0 Workers' Party Jiří Štěpánek 10,215 0.55 0 Party of Civic Rights Jan Kůrka 2,358 0.19 0 Republic Martin Ščepka 2,025 0.13 0 Democratic Green Party Zdeněk Kylián 844 0.05 0Total1 842 61410047

Elected representatives NumRepresentativePartyVotes1.Martin Baxa ODS9,8432.Jiří Šneberger ODS8,5393. Lumír Aschenbrenner ODS8,5304.Ivana Mádlová ANO7,8825.Pavel Šrámek ANO7,7916.Miloslava Rutová ANO7,6107. Roman Zarzycký ANO7,5028. Bohuslav Rada ANO7,4349.Veronika Jilichová Nová ODS7,42610.Vlastimil Gola ANO 7,38811. David Procházka ANO7,31112.Pavel Šindelář ODS 7,31113.Petr Fišer ANO 7,25014.Petr Šustáček ANO7,23215.Eliška Bartáková ANO7,21916.Martin ZrzaveckýČSSD7,18217.Eva HerinkováČSSD7,09818.David Šlouf ODS7,05419.Helena Matoušová ODS7,03920.Milan Uhlík ODS7,01921.Jakub Čermák ODS6,99222.Eva Trůková ODS6,97223.Miroslav BrabecČSSD 6,89824.Petr OsvaldČSSD 6,79225. Jiří KuthanČSSD6,70326.Jiří BisČSSD6,67327.Pavel kotasČSSD6,66628.Rusolf MayerČSSD6,63429.Pavel DuchekČSSD6,61730.Milan ŠupíkČSSD6,53131.Ondřej ŽeníšekTOP 094,68832.Michal VozobuleTOP 094,22133.Marcel HájekOPAT4,15734.Václav ChaloupekOPAT4,13935.Ilona JehličkováTOP 093,95336.Jan FluxaTOP 093,92437.Petr SuchýTOP 093,83338.Václav ŠtěklKSČM3,76639.Petr NáhlíkKDU-ČSL3,69040.Jana BystřickáKSČM3,57041.Ludvík RöschOPAT3,47842.Monika Magdaléna ŠtefanováKSČM3,45843.Karel KvitKSČM3,44144.František HrubešKSČM3,42945.Michal DvořákOPAT3,41246.Pavel BočekKDU-ČSL3,09147.Pavel JanouškovecKDU-ČSL3,036

Aftermath Reactions Civic Democratic leader Martin Baxa was amazed by result of his party. He stated that ODS was de facto victor of the election. He stated that voters appreciated successes of the previous council. He was also glad that he received highest number of votes of all candidates.

Pavel Šrámek also considered the result a success. He stated that "History never asks how much you win but if you win. Both strongest parties, ODS and ANO 2011 expressed intention to negotiate with all other parties with exception of Communists.

Leader of Social Democrats Martin Zrzavecký admitted disappointment with the election. "None of us expected ODS to be that successful and we are third and can't be satisfied as we should be. Zrzavecký expressed will to negotiate with ANO 2011 and ODS.

Coalition formation Coalition talks started soon after the election. Media talked about Martin Baxa, Martin Zrzavecký and Pavel Šrámek as possible candidates for Mayor. Coalition needed to consist of at least 3 parties. Coalition was formed on 18 October 2014. Civic Democratic Party formed Council with Czech Social Democratic Party, Christian and Democratic Union - Czechoslovak People's Party and Citizens Patriots. Coalition has majority of 27 seats. Social Democrat Zrzavecký became the mayor while Civic Democratic leader Baxa became deputy Mayor. Council consists of 4 Civic Democrats, 3 Social Democrats, 1 Christian Democrat and 1 Citizen Patriot.

Czech Social Democratic Party originally planned to form coalition with ANO 2011 and Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party but changed mind due to alleged unreliability of Pavel Šrámek.

Election of the new council was held on 6 November 2014. Martin Zrzavecký was elected new Mayor while Martin Baxa became his first Deputy. Roman Zarzycký was elected Chairman of the control committee which is position traditionally held by leader of opposition.

Formed council Position Member Party Received votes Mayor Martin Zrzavecký ČSSD 1st Deputy, deputy for culture Martin Baxa ODS Economical deputy Pavel Kotas ČSSD Deputy for transport and environment Petr Náhlík KDU-ČSL Technical Deputy Pavel Šindelář ODS Deputy for education and social affairs Eva Herinková ČSSD Councillor for management of city's property Helena Matoušová ODS Councillor for support of business and sport Michal Dvořák OPAT Councillor for management of city's estates David Šlouf ODS Source:

Other major positions Position Member Party Received votes Chairman of control committee Roman Zarzycký ANO

Later development Council then organised European Capital of Culture in 2015. Martin Baxa was responsible for the project as a Deputy for Culture. The project was positively received by MEPS and citizens of Plzeň. On 7 December 2015 Supreme audit office released report that criticised that one third of Subsidies wasn't pumped. City and council disagreed with the report and submitted objections. Complex report on the project was released in June 2016. It praised economical impac on the city. Visitors spent over 500 Million Czech crowns in the city and new jobs were created.

In February 2015 Chairman of control committee and ANO 2011 politician Roman Zárzycký was charged that he broke into a computer of his ex-wife and stole intimate information about her business and used it for his opportunity. Jury concluded in December 2016 that Zárzycký got this information from his sons mobile and that Zárzyck didn't commit a misconduct he was charged with. Zárzycký got access to his wife's Facebook conversation from his son's mobile. Information there showed that his wife was smoking weed and regularly drinking. Zárzycký was alleged to use this information along with intimate photographs of his ex-wife during a dispute over a custody of their children. Jury concluded that concerns over children were stronger than protection of mail secret

Pavel Šrámek resigned on his position in regional ANO in October 2015. It was speculated that it was a result of the election and Šrámek's failure to form a coalition. Šrámek refused these speculations and stated it was dueto his work in the Parliament.

Michal Dvořák left the council on 20 April 2017 and was replaced by Petr Chvojka. Dvořák was charged with allegations of corruption.

References

External links Results