Karolína Peake’s LIDEM gets signatures for party registration

The newly created Czech political party forming around Karolína Peake, a deputy prime minister and leader of a group that broke away from the Public Affairs (VV) party, says it has already collected more the 1,000 signatures needed to register as a party.

Martin Vacek, one of the handful of former VV members of the lower house of parliament who joined Peake in quitting the scandal-scarred party, told public broadcaster Czech Radio on Friday that the 1,000-mark had been reached and passed with more time being allowed for the collection of further signatures from supporters.

The new party to be created has already been baptized LIDEM and, according to Peake, should have fulfilled all the steps necessary to be registered as a political party by the end of June.

Peake resigned from the VV in mid-April, citing the infighting within it, constant changes of direction and attempts to win more leverage with the two other parties in center-right government of Prime Minister Petr Nečas, the Civic Democrats (ODS) and TOP 09.

Her move followed the trial of de-facto VV leader Vít Bárta on corruption charges and a suspended court sentence of 18 months in prison with former VV member of parliament sentenced to three years in prison and banned from the lower house for 10 years.

Peake rallied VV members of parliament to her political platform, which pledged continued support for the Nečas government, but fell short of the 10 members needed to form a parliamentary political grouping.