Final Word from Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Milan Chovanec told Právo 10 days ago that if ČSSD gets involved in political squabbles, people will have no reason to vote for it. ČSSD has nothing to do with Andrej Babiš's Stork's Nest scandal, he insisted. What he is apparently trying to conceal is ČSSD's unspoken election objective of creating and fueling anti-Babiš scandals without being seen as the instigator behind them. Babiš's objective is the opposite. He wants the scandals to be seen as the work of ČSSD, because this reduces their impact. But his strategy seems to be even more targeted than this, and he has Miloš Zeman's help. They want the elections to be a showdown between ANO and ČSSD, similar to the CDU vs. SPD duel in Germany. This significantly diminishes the importance of all the other parties. So Babiš interrupted an otherwise idyllic debate last night about policy to attack Lubomír Zaorálek. As Chovanec said, if ČSSD gets involved in political squabbles, people will have no reason to vote for it. [Czech Republic American British French Nordic Chamber of Commerce Seznam]