Czech politician and chairman of Christian Democrats (KDU-ČSL), Marian Jurečka, has backed down over his opposition to same-sex marriage. The politician appeared to bend to pressure from criticism on social media after he stated in a Friday interview, that he would require his partners from the Together (Spolu) coalition — Civic Democrats (ODS) and TOP 09 — not to allow the approval of same-sex marriages if the coalition would succeed in the next elections.
He added that creating a government coalition could fail over this issue. On Saturday, he took his words back on Twitter.
“We will definitely not ruin the chance for change in our country. The Czech Republic needs it, just as it needs a government that can agree on the country’s biggest problems and solve them,” he said, adding that in the case of marriage for all, the already declared free vote for each member of the Together coalition applies.
However, in a Friday interview, Jurečka said that for Christian Democrats, it would be unacceptable if individual members of government parties would vote freely and the same-sex marriage might pass.
Representatives of Mayors and Independents (STAN) and Pirates commented on Jurečka’s statement.
“Sometimes it is not possible to explain everything well during an interview, and my statement yesterday is one of them. On the issue of marriage, what we, as the Together coalition, have already declared in the past applies, that is: each member of parliament will vote at its own discretion,” Jurečka corrected his previous statement.
One of the possible variants of the post-election arrangement is the formation of a government with the participation of the Spolu coalition, which consists of the ODS, TOP 09 and KDU-ČSL, and the Pirates and STAN coalition. The parliamentary elections will take place in three weeks.
In Friday’s response to the interview, ODS chairman Petr Fiala stated that he always respected the free vote of each of the legislators regarding ethical matters.
“I do not intend to change anything in this position of mine in the future,” he said.
The enactment of marriage for same-sex couples passed the first reading in the Chamber of Deputies in April this year. At the same time, the MPs supported the strengthening of marriage protection exclusively as a union of a man and a woman by constitutional enshrinement. However, the deputies will not have time to decide on the drafts before the elections, as the last regular meeting of the Chamber of Deputies concluded on Friday.
Title image: Christian Democrats (KDU-ČSL) chairman Marian Jurečka in front of the bus used for the campaign tour of the Together coalition (Marian Jurečka / Facebook)
