The Ostravská levice list of KSČM and independents won only 1.69 percent of the vote in the 2026 municipal elections, so for the first time since 1945 the Communists have no seat on the Ostrava council.
In the 2026 municipal elections the Communists did not win a seat on the council of the statutory city of Ostrava. The Ostravská levice list, an association of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM) and independent candidates, received 1.69 percent of the vote. According to Deník, the Communists had been active in Ostrava's local government continuously since 1945, so this is the first such situation since then.[1][2]
History of representation
The Communists entered Ostrava's local government after the war in 1945, when they had four representatives on the 13-member local national committee. From 1948 the party held a political monopoly in the city and throughout Czechoslovakia. Since 1990 it had always been represented on the Ostrava council.[2]
Statements by Communist politicians
Josef Babka was fourth on the Ostravská levice list and received the most preferential votes on it, 1,584, but the list did not make it onto the council. According to the publications, Babka had been active in Ostrava's local government since 1986, first as a deputy and secretary of the national committee of Ostrava 1, and from 1990 as a city councillor. He is now leaving his seat in Ostrava after four decades; he remains a member of the council of the Moravian-Silesian Region. As one of the main causes of the failure he named the separate candidacy of the Stačilo! movement with independent Ostrava residents, which won 2.6 percent of the vote and, in his view, confused the party's members and voters. He also said that, in his view, ANO has long been drawing away left-leaning voters.[1][2]
Ivan Strachoň, the leader of Ostravská levice, called the result a shock. According to him, voters preferred ANO, with which they were sure of being elected, and did not want to risk their votes being wasted.[2]
Besides Ostravská levice, the Social Democrats under the label Pro naši Ostravu and the Stačilo! movement with independent Ostrava residents also ran in the municipal elections in Ostrava.[1]
Chronology
- — After the municipal elections, the communists have no representation on the Ostrava city council for the first time since 1945; the Ostravská levice list won 1.69 percent of the vote. Deník: Moravskoslezský kraj Novinky.cz
Sources
- Deník: Moravskoslezský kraj — 11 October 2026
- Novinky.cz — 11 October 2026