People who have been quarantined due to the covid-19 infection cannot vote by law. However, if their number reaches the order of thousands, according to Hamáček, according to the Minister of the Interior, it would be appropriate to consider postponing the election date. People are to vote for regional councils and a third of the Senate on October 2 and 3.
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Another state of emergency
According to Hamáček, thousands of people in quarantine would mean a worse situation than the Czechia faced at the beginning of the pandemic this spring.
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“The state would have to react to this again in some form of emergency, and the law remembers that as well. In the worst case, the postponement of the election could also be discussed, but I do not want to draw black scenarios, “Hamáček told CNN Prima News, adding that he intends to create a special expert team from representatives of the Ministry of Interior and Health to assess the situation and offer possible solutions.
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According to Hamáček, however, postponing the elections set by President Miloš Zeman for the first weekend of October would be an extreme possibility. “It’s one of the possibilities, but only the very last, then it would be in a situation where the epidemic would reach proportions that would require a declaration of a state of emergency.”
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Even on Monday, Hamáček’s deputy Petr Mlsna practically ruled out the postponement of the October election date. “The postponement for the entire territory of the Czech Republic is the ultimate intervention, which is connected with the extension of the election period of the existing regional councils and the shortening of the election period of the future ones,” he said in an interview with Právo.
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On the other hand, according to him, this is not an isolated situation. “According to the experience we have with Serbia, Poland or South Korea, for example, the measures can be well put into practice. In total, such elections have recently taken place in about 25 countries. “
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Who should not vote?
Restrictions on the right to vote result from the Public Health Protection Act. “Therefore, a voter cannot cast his vote in the case of an individually determined quarantine. This is determined for a specific natural person by the regional hygienic service. For example, when Uničov was closed so that no one could go in or out, the elections would take place at that place, ”explains Mlsna.
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The opposition suggested that special election commissioners in protective suits should come to the quarantined people to prevent the infection. But even that, according to Mlsna, would not prevent the danger of transmitting the disease.
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“The commissioners will come there in anti-nuclear suits, the people will vote – and what’s next? We’re mixing that vote with the other votes, and it’s going to be added by the state district commission. It must be ensured that the votes are counted in that particular constituency. And will the commissioners count all the votes in “gagarin suits” (protective suits) there? In addition, it is not realistic for these teams to operate in 14,000 districts, ”Mlsna questions such a proposal.
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Poll
If thousands of people were quarantined in the autumn, how do you think the elections should proceed?
Quarantined people should lose the right to vote
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A way should be devised to give quarantined people a choice
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Elections should be postponed
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A total of 878 readers voted.
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