Final Word from Monday, August 5, 2024
The Pirates missed the window of opportunity they had to slam the door on the ruling coalition and to enter the opposition in time to score big in next year's parliamentary elections. If Pirates Chair Ivan Bartoš had realized in time that he wasn't going to be able to handle the launch of the new online building-permit system, he might have been able to ditch it off to someone else before the problems became apparent - preferably from his point of view to STAN, because it's the one that hoodwinked the Pirates in the 2021 elections with the circling-out campaign and left them with just four MPs. But Bartoš failed again to show leadership. He committed one of the biggest strategic errors in Czech politics by allowing STAN to cheat his party in 2021, and now he has committed one of the biggest political-managerial errors by mishandling the construction agenda. To add insult to injury, it came just as some center-right voters frustrated with ODS were considering switching their allegiance to the Pirates. [ Czech Republic preferential vote voting preference Fiala government ]
Glossary of difficult words
to ditch (off) - to get rid of or give up;
to hoodwink - to deceive or trick;
to add insult to injury - to exacerbate an already disappointing, embarrassing or otherwise unpleasant situation;
allegiance - loyalty or commitment to a superior or to a group or cause.