The Czech Green Party (Strana zelených) held its Congress in Prague on January 25-26. After the early national election in October the board of the party announced that they would resign, to give way for new voices.
Delegates chose the party's new leaders on the first day of the Congress. Outgoing Chairman Ondřej Liška was re-elected for the fourth time since 2009 with a substantial majority. In his speech Liška announced that he would like to run as a leading candidate for the upcoming European elections, and set a goal of at least 2 seats in the European Parliament. Strana Zelených’s European list will be finalised at the beginning of March, 2014.
The second day of the Congress saw delegates discuss the strategy for 2014's elections. This year will be a "super electoral" year for Czech citizens with the European election in May, and senate and local elections in Autumn. For the European election, the main challenge will be the traditionally low turnout. According to the party leader, it’s going to be a very close competition where a few hundreds votes will be crucial, and the Greens must fight for each and every single one. Strana Zelených will get inspiration from the Common Green Manifesto, to be adopted at the Electoral Convention of the European Green Party on February 22 in Brussels.
Possible cooperation with other political parties, especially with the Czech Pirate party and some smaller regional ones was discussed as well in Prague. The Congress also accepted a resolution condemning the violence in Ukraine.
