Tag Archives: Elections

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czech Local Elections

Published by:

Romani men and women who ran for office in this year’s Czech regional elections were unsuccessful, and none of them will sit in regional councils. Elections in so-called socially excluded localities have traditionally been characterized by low turnout. However, it cannot be automatically concluded that the Roma as a whole did not go to vote, because not all Roma live in the excluded localities. From the statistics of the Czech Statistical Office, it is not possible to determine how many Roma participated in the elections and who they voted for.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia: Elections

Published by:

Regional elections will take place on Friday and Saturday in 13 regions of the Czech Republic, with the exception of Prague. In the capital city, the function of the regional council is performed by the Prague City Council, which is elected in municipal elections. Voters in these counties will begin selecting their county representatives tomorrow afternoon. In a third of the state territory, including three Prague districts, they will also have the opportunity to decide on their senators.

Let’s see how many Roma are elected this time.

Europe

European Elections and Roma

Published by:

The news server Romea.cz provided a detailed analysis of the results of the European Parliament elections from the point of view of the Roma minority through a special podcast. Journalists, political analysts and representatives of the Roma community took part in the discussion.

The results of the EP elections from the point of view of the Roma were evaluated on Wednesday evening by: journalist Jarmila Balážová, political scientist Edita Stejskalová, former social worker Jan Houška and founder of the Be Heard initiative Petr Banda. The podcast was presented by Zdeněk Ryšavý, editor-in-chief of the news server Romea.cz.

Europe

EU Parliament: No Roma

Published by:

For the first time since 2004, there are no Roma representatives from Eastern Europe. There were several candidates for the European Parliament from different countries:

Czech Republic: David Beňák for the ANO movement, Ivana Batthyány for the Left and Jaroslav Miko for the Mayors.

Slovakia: Peter Pollák and Dominik Lakatoš for the Volt party.

Hungary: Bogdán Csaba from the Tiszla movement.

Bukgaria: Vanya Grigorová

They all failed to be elected.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and European Elections

Published by:

The European Parliament elections in Slovakia were won by the Progresivne Slovensko (PS) movement, which won six mandates, followed by the Smer-SD party, which will be represented by five MPs, the Republika party (founded by former party members Marian Kotleba), which won two mandates, the Christian Democratic Movement with one mandate and the Hlas – social democracy party (whose former chairman Peter Pellegrini will sit in the presidential palace), which also won one mandate. The Roma candidates failed.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia, Elections, and Roma

Published by:

A reportage on a small town close to the Polish border where many Roma were moved into a dilapidated housing estate and did not vote in the European elections. They either are not registered in that town, or simply have no idea what elections were held.

Europe

Željko Jovanović on European Elections

Published by:

The president of the Roma Foundation of Europe is appealing politicians to involve Roma in upcoming European elections. He says there are more Roma in Europe than citizen of several smaller European countries, and that in several places, they make 10% of the population.

Czech Republic Europe News Eastern Europe

Czechia: Debate

Published by:

On Wednesday, June 5, Romani internet television, ROMEA TV, broadcasted a live debate of three Romani candidates running for seats in the European Parliament. All candidates accepted the invitation to the debate: Ivana Batthyány (Left), David Beňák (ANO) and Jaroslav Miko (STAN).

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Vidin, Bulgaria, and the European Elections

Published by:

Dr. Tsvetan Tsenkov, the Mayor of the Vidin municipality, has decided to move the 8 polling stations that traditionally were located in the Roma neighbourhood of Nov Pat, to other parts of town. According to the mayor, this is to prevent irregularities and voter manipulation.

Well, it will also prevent man Roma from voting…

Europe

ODHIR and Roma Vote

Published by:

With Roma and Sinti political participation still marginal in many places and elections taking place this year in almost half of OSCE countries, it is more important than ever that Roma and Sinti have the opportunity to participate in elections and help shape their societies for the better, stated the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) on the occasion of International Roma Day.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovak Elections and Roma

Published by:

In one of the largest Roma housing estates in Slovakia, Lunik IX, Roma did not go and vote for the Slovak Presidential elections. People say they would have gone if there were Roma candidates.

Well, they missed an opportunity to express their views. That is a pity.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovak Presidential Elections

Published by:

Non-parliamentary parties Democrats, Democratic Party, Forum, Modrí – ES, ODS – Citizens’ Democrats of Slovakia, Roma Coalition Party have agreed on a common procedure in the second round of the presidential elections. On Tuesday, at a joint press conference, they officially expressed their support for the civil candidate for president, Ivan Korčok.

Uncategorized

Slovak Elections

Published by:

On Saturday, March 23, 2024, the first round of presidential elections took place in Slovakia. Voters chose from nine candidates. Voter turnout was at almost 52 percent. The winner of the first round was Ivan Korčok (independent candidate), with over 42 percent of the votes, Peter Pellegrini (Voice) with 37 percent was second.  The nationalist Štefan Harabin came third (11.7 percent), and almost 3 percent went to the chairman of the Hungarian Alliance, Krisztián Forró. He won first place in two districts in the south, in Dunajská Streda and Komárno. These are districts with a significant Hungarian minority, but part of the population is also made up of Hungarian-speaking Roma.

Igor Matovič, leader of the Slovakia movement (formerly OĽaNO), won only 2.18 percent of the vote. Part of his movement is also the Roma platform Pačivale Roma, which is represented by father and son Pollák. Matovič received higher support in the districts of Bardejov, Sabinov, Levoča and Kežmarok, i.e. districts with a higher proportion of Roma, where the Pollák come from. It can therefore be assumed that he was elected by the Roma in the settlements.

The second round of the presidential election will take place on April 6, with more than 4.36 million eligible voters eligible to participate.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe Slovakia

A Czech View on Slovakia’s Elections

Published by:

Spiš, a once rich German region between Poprad and Prešov, is increasingly the fiefdom of the Roma. They push the Slovaks out of the town halls and rule themselves here. Former prime minister Igor Matovič’s Slovakia party has the most Roma MPs in the parliament. Roma want to continue this trend in the presidential elections.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia Elections

Published by:

A reportage Cakov, a village in Eastern Slovakia. The current Slovak president Zuzana Čaputová won almost 98 percent of the votes in Cakov last time. Who the residents will support this year will depend on how the candidates approach the problems of the Roma and Hungarian minorities.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia, the Elections, and Roma

Published by:

The dispute between the Union of Roma in Slovakia and the movement of Igor Matovič OĽaNO is escalating. First, on December 14, 2023, members of the union filed a criminal complaint in connection with a 500-euro promises made to Roma for participation in the elections. Matovič’s deputy Peter Pollák Jr. subsequently filed a criminal complaint for slander. On Monday, František Tanko, the chairman of the civic association Union of Roma in Slovakia, testified about this at the police in Galant. According to Tank, Matovič received 30 million euros for the last two election periods thanks to the votes of thousands of Roma, and therefore called on him to pay them the promised 500 euros.

This is not good, as it also plays in the hands of the current populist prime minister Fico.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Roma in Parliament

Published by:

The Slovak prime minister Fico against accused the OĽaNO opposition party of Matovič to have bought the votes of Roma in the settlements. The combination of the physical presence of the candidates of the OĽaNO Pačivale Roma platform (honest/responsible Roma) directly in Roma communities, extremely effective electoral mobilization, and thoughtful and believable communication on social networks caused the formation of a disciplined mass of Roma voters, who in the tens of thousands voted for one political party – the then OĽaNO movement, now Slovakia.

The new Roma MPs have now a difficult task ahead of them.

Slovakia

Slovakia, Elections, and Roma

Published by:

Another article about the 500 Euro promise made by O’lano and Roma. The articles in the Slovak press are pretty unanimous: Without this promise, the party would not have made it above the 5% threshold. It is now very convenient that a Roma organisation is suing this party for false promises.

Effectively, the narrative is that all Roma votes have been bought. While in some places this may hav been the case, it still needs to b proven…

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia, Elections, and Roma

Published by:

Members of the National Council (NR) of the Slovak Republic for the Slovakia movement Peter Pollák Jr., Lukáš Bužo and MEP Peter Pollák Sr. reject the accusations of the Union of Roma in Slovakia that they deceived the Roma before the elections in connection with a 500-euro allowance for participating in the elections.

rroma.org
en_GBEN
de_DEDE fr_FRFR en_GBEN