Prague City Assembly votes in city councilors

Last evening, the Prague City Assembly voted in Bohuslav Svoboda, who is the leader of the Spolu coalition, as mayor of Prague. Svoboda received 50 votes out of 65, which confirmed his position as successor of Pirate member Zdeněk Hřib. Svoboda previously served as Prague's mayor between 2010 and 2013.

The assembly also voted for five deputy mayors and five city councilors, who together with the mayor make up the CIty Council.

The City Council's seats went to the Spolu coalition, which received five seats, three of which went to Civic Democrats (ODS) and two to TOP 09; the Pirates, which received four, and STAN, with two. The Christian Democrats (KDU-ČSL) didn't receive any seats in the Council but will receive the chairmanship of two of the City Assembly committees.

Svoboda failed to win the votes of the opposition Praha sobě and Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) movement, while one member of the assembly abstained from voting. 

After the vote, Svoboda said that no one is able to manage a city with more than 1 million inhabitants on their own, adding he believed the new leadership would manage it jointly. He also stressed the necessity to deepen the cooperation with the government, given that Prague is the capital of Czechia.

Svoboda called the capital "an original organism that must be linked to the government and cooperate with it, since Prague is doing a number of things not just for itself but for the whole state."

Following inconclusive local elections in October, the negotiations for Prague's management lasted until earlier this week, making them the longest in the Czech capital's history.

The Pirates, Mayors and Independents (STAN), and the Spolu alliance signed a coalition agreement in Prague on Feb. 15 that laid out the terms for cooperation among the parties that will rule the city. The parties combined hold a majority of 36 seats in the 65-member City Assembly.

Responding to criticism that he will not have time for city management due to his several other positions, Svoboda announced that he would give up his position in the Chamber of Deputies, as the head of a gynecological clinic and as member of the General Health Insurance (VZP) board.