Stanislav Balík ran as an independent candidate and won over 54 percent of the vote. Miroslav Adámek, proposed by the ANO movement, received less than 46 percent of the votes. The difference between the two candidates was fifteen hundred votes. Voter turnout was lower than in the first round, slightly exceeding nineteen percent.
“Even though I believed it could happen, I thought the difference would be close, a couple of votes. He ended up being very big. I am mainly happy with the incredibly positive energy that has risen around me. I’m happy that the campaign, despite all sorts of things on Facebook, managed to stay basically correct, that it didn’t get into any dirty tricks on either side,” said Stanislav Balík.
close info Source: Diary zoom_in Senate elections 2024 – 2nd round results – Šumperk district
After the announcement of the election results, he met with the current senator and his opponent, Miroslav Adámek. “I would like to thank Mirko Adámek for what he did as a senator for Šumpersko and Jesenice. We have already spoken and I believe that in the different roles we have, we will work together for our region. I would like it if, after the campaign, Šumpersko and Jesenice did not remain divided into so-called winners and so-called losers. We want to live here together, not next to each other. And if there are any ditches after the campaign, I also called on my supporters to fill them in,” he added.
Former senator Miroslav Adámek was pleasantly surprised by the number of votes he received. “I want to thank everyone who came to vote. I am also very grateful to my family, who managed everything with me. I was there to congratulate and I congratulate Professor Balík as well. I think it will continue the work I did in the Senate for six years, which is to fight for our region. We had very similar programs and we perceive the problems of our region in the same way. I am glad that the senator will be a quality person who will fight for us. I sure hope so,” he said.
He will continue to work as the mayor of Šumperk, last week he was also elected as a regional representative. At the same time, he would not want to completely leave the Senate either.
“Emeritus senators have the opportunity to work, for example, in the commission for rural development, where I worked for six years. There I raised topics important to our region, from mobile signal to the reform of the Czech Post. If the senators would give me confidence, I would like to continue working there,” he said.
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According to him, the elections were a fair competition in which one of the candidates won. “Somewhere in the comments I read that Šumpersko had the advantage of not voting for the lesser evil, but between two excellent candidates. That’s how I feel too,” he concluded.
Interview with newly elected senator Stanislav Balík
close info Source: Deník/Petr Krňávek zoom_in Newly elected senator for Šumpersko and Jesenice Stanislav Balík.
How do you feel a few hours after the election?
It’s unbelievable. Even though I believed it could work, I thought it would be close, by a few votes. In the end, the difference was very big. Above all, I am happy about the incredibly positive energy that has risen around me. I’m also happy that the campaign managed to keep it fundamentally correct despite all sorts of things on Facebook, that it didn’t go into any filth on either side.
What would you say to your opponent?
I would like to thank Mirko Adámek for what he did as a senator for Šumpersko and Jesenice. We’ve met and talked before. I believe that in the various roles we have, we will work together for our region. I would like it if, after the campaign, Šumpersko and Jesenice were not divided into so-called winners and so-called losers. We want to live here together, not next to each other. And if there are any ditches after the campaign, I also called on my supporters to fill them up.
Voter turnout in the second round did not drop by as much compared to the first. So apparently your voters have come again…
I have less than a thousand of them. Now I will answer more as a political scientist than a politician, but I attribute the slightly smaller drop in participation to the fact that there were only three of us in the first round and a candidate with very little support dropped out. Almost 93 percent of voters experienced the success that their candidate advanced, and quite evenly. Almost everyone could vote for their candidate again and not look for a replacement.
What awaits you now?
I have to wait for the constituent meeting of the Senate, but all the priorities I had were overtaken by the disaster in Jesenice and northern Šumperska and the effort to help restore that region. Of course, I am well aware that a senator does not have executive power, but I could act as an intermediary between the different levels of government. I also asked Mirko Adámek for this, so that we could cooperate in this. To connect the level of local governments, regional and national, so that when the restoration is ideally used, the region will be restored in a better state than the water took. To move some of the things that had not been resolved until then.
You worked as a volunteer coordinator for the Archdiocesan Charity a week before the first round of Senate elections…
In this country, pre-flood and flood coordination, crisis teams and so on work very well, but the post-flood one was very improvised. I have ideas on what we could improve for future similar disasters to save ourselves a lot of unnecessary misunderstandings. The state could train, for example, fifty coordinators who would be assigned to the fire department or the police and would be prepared in case of such a disaster. The state would provide them to mayors in individual municipalities and say: here is a person who can help you. It will take a day or two to get used to the terrain, but then it can work. It would be very helpful for elders.
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You are the representative of your native Bludov, the dean of the Faculty of Social Studies in Brno, and you also teach at the university. Will you continue to do all this?
I will have to optimize my activities. In any case, I would like to finish the current dean’s mandate. It’s still a little over two years away. If I and those around me see that it is not possible, I have an agreement at the faculty that I would finish earlier. In any case, I expect that when I finish my current term as dean, I will not continue in any other university position. I will also reduce the remaining time at the faculty so that I can devote myself fully to the senator’s mandate.
Will you continue to devote yourself to bees and scouts?
It would probably hurt me the most with the scouts if I had to cut them back. My activity with them is very much focused on the summer, I think it could work. Bees are a joy, I will definitely keep them. I was in them on Saturday morning. Before the results were added up, I fumigated (autumn medical treatment of bee colonies, editor’s note). It’s not something she can’t handle.
Senate elections 2024
Second Round:
First round:
