Rychetský legitimizes Okamura

In Feb. 2018, Chief Justice Pavel Rychetský of the Constitutional Court told Czech TV that Chair Tomio Okamura of SPD should not have been elected as a deputy speaker of the House because of his racist, xenophobic and neo-Nazi views. One month before the Constitutional Court completely upended the electoral system in the country this week, Rychetský told E15 that fearmongering on social networks creates space in the real world for Okamura and his kind. Rychetský likes to use his bully pulpit to condemn Okamura, but SPD could be the one that benefits the most from this week's ruling of Rychetský's court. Under a fully proportional voting system, a post-election coalition of ANO, ČSSD and KSČM would have fewer than 90 seats in Parliament, based on the latest Median poll, compared to the current 108. SPD's roughly 19 seats would make it possible for Andrej Babiš to form a new government. Rychetský is helping to bring Okamura's "racism" into the mainstream.