The Social Democrat minister of the interior, Jan Hamáček, has come out
with a radical proposal to change the Czech Republic’s system of
parliamentary elections. In an interview with Saturday’s edition of the
newspaper Lidové noviny he said that instead of the current 14 electoral
districts, corresponding to the country’s regions, there would be only
one, national voting district.
Mr. Hamáček proposes a system under which each grouping would have one
national candidates list, headed by the party’s leader. He said this
would do away with debates over the number of votes required for election,
which ranges from region to region.
The change would also have an impact inside parties that would weaken
regional bosses, he said, adding that he would discuss the concept with
President Miloš Zeman.