Social Democrats to send mock postal orders over church restitution deal

The Social Democratic Party, says news website idnes, will send potential voters in this autumn’s regional and Senate elections mock postal orders starting Tuesday to draw attention to the government’s church property restitution deal worth an estimated 135 billion crowns. The mock orders – part of a broader election campaign by the Social Democrats to draw attention to the deal’s scope – will “charge” Czechs almost 13,000 crowns per head to be “sent” to Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek. The Social Democrats recently made clear they would make church restitution a key election issue in the upcoming regional elections; a similar campaign covering state debt was used in the past by right-of-centre party TOP 09.

The government proposal on church property restitution was rejected by the Senate last week but is likely to pass when it comes up again in the lower house where government MPs have the majority.

Author: Jan Velinger