Former Mayor of Brno Petr Vokral, who held the office for the ANO Movement from 2014 to 2018, has resigned unexpectedly from the party. He had been the movement’s national Vice-Chair since 2015, and was expected to stand as the party’s candidate for Governor of South Moravia later this year. Photo credit: Berk Büyükbalcı.
Brno, Jun 4 (BD) – On Monday evening, Brno politician Petr Vokral announced his departure from ANO, the party of which he has been a member since 2014, expressing dissatisfaction with the direction the party was taking. Writing on Facebook, Vokral said: “I am leaving because I do not want to further associate my name with those who use ANO only for their personal benefit, and thus destroy the good work of their colleagues.” He has ruled out standing for another party.
Vokral represented the party as Mayor of Brno from 2014 to 2018, heading a four-party coalition that also included the Green Party, the Christian Democrats, and activist group Zit Brno. Under his leadership, ANO were again the largest party in municipal elections in 2018, but were kicked out of office by an alternative coalition consisting of four other parties.
Vokral was selected to be the ANO candidate for Governor of South Moravia in regional elections scheduled for this autumn, but has recently become embroiled in internal party disputes in the Brno area, pushing unsuccessfully for the abolition of local parties in Židenice, Starý Lískovec and Černovice. Vokral told aktualne.cz this week that these local parties had become compromised by links to the criminal underworld, but members of those branches accused him of trying to neutralise his political opponents.
The news comes at a difficult moment for ANO in Brno, with several figures connected to the party facing criminal corruption charges. Rival parties will see the departure of Vokral, who is styling himself as one of the last remaining liberal voices leaving the movement, as more evidence that ANO is struggling with factionalism.
