Pirates and Mayors ( cs, Piráti a Starostové) was a

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

progressive

centrist Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to the l ...

political alliance A political group is a group consisting of political parties or legislators of aligned ideologies. A technical group is similar to a political group, but with members of differing ideologies. International terms Equivalent terms are used differ ...

in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

, formed for the 2021 legislative election, consisting of the

Czech Pirate Party The Czech Pirate Party or Pirates ( cs, Česká pirátská strana , abbreviated ''Piráti'' ) is a Liberalism, liberal Progressivism, progressive List of political parties in the Czech Republic, political party in the Czech Republic, founded in 20 ...

(Piráti) and

Mayors and Independents The Mayors and Independents ( cs, Starostové a nezávislí), abbreviated to STAN, is a liberal political party in the Czech Republic that is focused on localism and subsidiarity. The party grew out of four minor parties, including Independent ...

(STAN). As of the 2021 Czech election it governs the Czech Republic in a coalition with the SPOLU alliance.

History

Following the 2020 regional elections, opposition parties began negotiations about potential electoral alliances. Speculation began about a

bloc composed of the Pirate Party and

, with

Ivan Bartoš Ivan Bartoš (born 20 March 1980) is a Czech civil rights activist and a Czech Pirate Party politician, serving as the Minister of Regional Development and Deputy Prime Minister for Digitalization in the governing Cabinet of Petr Fiala since D ...

as the leader. The leadership of

agreed to start negotiations on 8 October 2020. The Pirates were required to ratify any alliance in a members' referendum. A poll on 20 October 2020 indicated that 51% of Pirate Party members were opposed to the alliance while 43% supported it. The referendum to start negotiations for an alliance was originally scheduled for 13 to 16 November 2020, but was rescheduled for 20 to 23 November 2020. Among Pirate Party members, 695 out of 858 voted in favor of negotiations, with a turnout of 80%.

was nominated as the Pirate Party's election leader on 25 November 2020, and was confirmed on 2 December 2020. The Pirates also offered the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

the possibility to join its electoral list. Ivan Bartoš was confirmed as the alliance's electoral leader on 14 December 2020. Pirate Party members voted to approve the alliance on 13 January 2021. The alliance participated in the 2021 legislative election, finishing third with 15.6% of the votes and 37 seats, which was considered a disappointment. Due to preference voting,

won 33 seats and the

won just 4 seats. Some media reports said that the atmosphere between STAN and Pirates had become more tense following the election, leading to speculation about the potential dissolution of the alliance, with the Pirates remaining in opposition. However, in early November, Pirates and Mayors signed a coalition agreement to form a government with SPOLU. Following coalition negotiations with SPOLU, the alliance was assigned seven ministries of the government, out of which four are for Mayors and Independents and three for Pirates. In November, Rakušan stated that STAN will not enter the next election on a joint list with the Pirates.

Member parties

Regional leaders in the 2021 election

Election results

Footnotes

External links

* * {{Mayors and Independents Political parties established in 2020 Political party alliances in the Czech Republic Czech Pirate Party Mayors and Independents Liberal parties in the Czech Republic Pro-European political parties in the Czech Republic Progressive parties 2020 establishments in the Czech Republic 2021 Czech legislative election