Final Word from Monday, November 29, 2021

The latest Kantar CZ survey for Czech TV, released coincidentally on the same day yesterday that Petr Fiala was appointed prime minister, shows that very little has changed politically in the five weeks since the parliamentary elections (Kantar's polling ended on Nov. 19). Give or take a percentage point or so, the main coalitions and individual parties are right there where they were on election day. This means that Fiala hasn't lost or gained any ground, Andrej Babiš hasn't either, and the roughly 20% of unrepresented voters in Parliament are still sticking to their guns. This is a remarkable feat, esp. if the Pandora Papers had such an impact on voter turnout on Oct. 8-9 as some people think. The Kantar poll suggests that voter interest has remained high since election day, but also that no political party has found a way to use the "medical, economic and values crisis," as Fiala labeled it on Nov. 8, to shake things up. If delta hasn't left its mark on Czech politics, perhaps omicron will. [ Czech Republic coronavirus mutation variant Television ODS ANO cabinet PM appointment Miloš Zeman president ]