Babiš gives up Okamura and boosts Rakušan
ANO declared ostentatiously before the vote yesterday on lifting the immunity of SPD Chair Tomio Okamura that its MPs would vote against allowing him to be prosecuted for two campaign posters considered by the police to have a racist or xenophobic subtext. ANO did indeed oppose the proposal, but 28 of its 71 lawmakers were absent, which allowed the four ruling parties and Pirates to carry the motion by a vote of 81-62. ANO can blame it on the school break, but Andrej Babiš's party still failed to stand up to a government that, according to Babiš, wants to "hold on to power at any cost." Babiš was among those absent from yesterday's vote. So was STAN Chair Vít Rakušan, who, as interior minister, is in charge of the police. The vote against Okamura was his third big victory in a row, after passing the law on mail-in balloting from abroad and the new crime of "unauthorized activity for a foreign power." Rakušan, aided this time by Babiš, is becoming the new bulldozer of Czech politics.
Glossary of difficult words
to give someone up - to deliver a wanted person to authority;
ostentatiously - in a way that is very obvious and is an attempt to make people notice
to lift - formally to remove or end (a legal restriction, decision or ban);
to carry (a motion or measure) - to approve by a majority of votes;
bulldozer - a person or group exercising irresistible force, esp. in disposing of opposition.