Will Motorists become a small but rich bride? Turek and Klempíř convince voters that the polls are taking their toll
- Filip Turek
- Aug 28
- 6 min read
Political marketer and now former frontman of the band JAR, Oto Klempíř, went to one of his first major meetings as the leader of Motorists for Himself in the Pilsen region. In the well-filled hall of the Saloon Roudná pub in Pilsen on Tuesday evening, he moderated a discussion with MEP and Central Bohemian leader Filip Turk. Together, they took notes in their criticism of the government of Petr Fiala (ODS), the functioning of the European Union and multicultural countries.
In addition to the expected topics, the meeting included several notable moments, even for a frequent visitor to political events. Perhaps the most significant – and from the perspective of some experts, perhaps even relevant – was the theory of why more people could vote for Motoristy than the election models show. Thanks to this, the party, which according to the latest surveys by the STEM or Median agencies is supported by 3.9 to 4.7 percent of voters, would cross the five percent threshold for entering the Chamber of Deputies.
"We have a group of voters that is unmeasurable for agencies," Turek claimed, adding that agencies know about this problem, supposedly it is about 1.2 percent of people, and theories as to why this is the case vary. "Some say it is people who go to work and do not have time to answer some surveys. Or it could be angry people who are just turning 18 and going to the polls for the first time," Turek described.
According to sociologist Jan Herzmann, it is strange that someone from an agency environment would be able to say what percentage of people this is when it cannot be measured.
"Personally, I think that some similar group of people really exists, they will come to the elections and strengthen the Motorists so that this party exceeds five percent," says Herzmann. "Maybe they are voted by people who are unavailable to agencies because they are rummaging in their car or motorbike in the garage and some public opinion polls are stolen from them. But I wouldn't dare to quantify it at all," Herzmann thinks.
Martin Buchtík, director of the STEM agency, is more skeptical about this idea. "It is possible that someone from our field told them this. But according to my information, their internal analyses are very similar to our research," says the head of STEM. It is his agency that is often mentioned negatively at Motoristů sěpi meetings in connection with last year's European elections. And it was no different in Pilsen.
Turek recalled how the agency released a survey a few days before the European elections , in which the party had 4.7 percent of the vote. And in the elections it then won 10.26 . "Yeah," one of the visitors in Pilsen shouted emotionally, causing about a hundred other viewers to applaud.
"The election model does not say how the election will turn out, but what the mood is now. Motorists were able to activate a lot of people at the last minute. Including those who had not voted at all in the past," Buchtík explains today. At the same time, he defends the agency, saying that its model was not nearly as different from its competitors as the party's faces might suggest.
"When we did averages for May and early June, when Mr. Macinka, Turek, and Šťastný attacked us in practically every public appearance, our election model was 0.3 percentage points lower than the average of the others," explains Buchtík.
The plumber praised the minister
That motorists are very annoyed by surveys that send them below the five percent mark was also evident from Turk's comment about his case with speeding on the highway .
"The election result will not be affected by the fact that I, an idiot, posted a photo of a speedometer on the Internet, but by the fact that people are afraid to vote for parties that will not make it to the Chamber of Deputies," said Turek. And Klempíř then described Motoristy as a party that, if it enters the Chamber of Deputies, could be a "small but rich bride." Because it could decide whether the bloc around the current government or the opposition movement ANO will have a majority.
Pre-election rally Motorists together!
Turek presented Motoristy as a constructive party that "will prevent communists from entering the government and will keep ANO on the right." And a party that will also solve the dilemma for ANO leader Andrej Babiš.
"In my opinion, Babiš does not want to go into government with the SPD at any cost," said Turek. And he poked fun at SPD leader Tomi Okamura from a distance. "Eighty percent of what we produce here, we export to the EU. We cannot close these doors. So you will not hear from us what you hear from Okamura. He knows that there are 20 percent of people here who hate the EU and Ursula (von der Leyen), so he will simplify it to a czexit," the MEP described the SPD's simple tactic, and Klempíř agreed.
"We think we have smarter voters than the SPD and Tomio Okamura," he amused the audience. Turek then described himself as a lifelong ODS voter who never voted YES - but now, especially in the European Parliament, he agrees with him on many points. And that is why he can imagine a joint government. In contrast, according to him, he does not see anyone in the current ODS with whom he would like to enter a coalition.
"They say nice things in the European Parliament. But then they vote for all those green proposals," criticized the ODS. Klempíř praised one name from the current strongest government party - Minister of Transport Martin Kupka, whom he knows from the time he was mayor of the Central Bohemian municipality of Líbeznice, and considers him a very capable politician. "But apart from Martin Kupka, I would not want to have anything to do with them," Klempíř assured Turk.
Although it is an interesting issue, it could gain importance - according to HN's inside information, Kupka is the most likely candidate for the chairman of the ODS, if the Spolu coalition fails in this year's elections and Fiala decides to relinquish his position. The ODS will elect a new leadership shortly after the elections in any case - the date of the regular party congress falls at the beginning of next year.
Instead of beats, table talk
Despite their short history, the Motorists have already held two congresses in the past year. At the recent, "crisis" one, they were fine-tuning tactics to increase the party's electoral preferences . Tuesday's Pilsen event had a much more intimate character than the previous ones. They didn't play any of Řezník's thunderous beats , and Turek and Klempíř sat at a table and chatted for most of the performance. At some points, so quietly that there was a request from the hall for them to speak louder into the microphone.
The Turk has announced that he would like to be a minister in the next government, because he would then be able to participate in the EU councils of ministers. And thanks to that, he could influence EU policy more than from his current position as an MEP. He did not mention a specific ministry, but speculation is about foreign affairs .
"Please don't jump on the idea that Motorists should be pro-Russian, it's a cheap tactic of those who have no arguments," Turek defended the party's policy.
"There have only been two votes on Ukraine during my time in the European Parliament - and I was in favor each time. The first time, my favorite Danuša Nerudová was absent. So she was actually pro-Russian," he amused the audience with his comparison with STAN MEP Danuša Nerudová.
He assured that the Motorists do not want to withdraw from the European Union or NATO, although he did not spare the union. "For example, our European Commissioner, Mr. Jozef Síkela , is in the department of friendship with third countries, which gives away 300 billion euros. You all contributed to the fact that we paid for the electrification of some Nepalese places," said Turek. He criticized the European monetary policy and in this context asked the visitors in the hall: "Is anyone here for the euro?" When not a single hand was raised, he smiled: "We are in good company."
Most of the event was "pulled" by Turek, Klempíř was more of a questioner. Although he comes from the Slovak region and has lived in Prague most of his life, Pilsen is "nothing foreign" to him. "It's a few kilometers from Prague. I know it here, I know the fairer sex here. I've had several emotional experiences here, which I don't want to talk about much now," he said of the city and region where Motoristé surprisingly put him in first place on the list of candidates only a month ago.
He tried to win over the people of Pilsen with at least the idea that he wanted to push for something in the city to be named after the singer Karel Gott.
"Master Karel Gott was born in Pilsen and there is still nothing named after him here," Klempíř told local politicians, adding that they should have named "at least some bus, bus stop or train station" after Gott, who died in October 2019, a long time ago.
Article taken from: SOURCE
