Vladimir Bostik
Vladimir Bostik (born Vysoke Myto, October 30, 1959) is a former mayor of the village Vraclav in the Usti nad Orlici District, Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic (1994 to 2002).
Bostik trained and worked as a mechanic before taking advantage of the new economic opportunities in post-communism Czechoslovakia to found a road haulage company. In 2004 he filed for bankruptcy and admitted at the end of August 2017 that he still has debts worth about CZK2 million ($275,000) stemming from this.[1] He also told reporters that he had been wrongfully convicted of theft of oil in his past, with the appeal process still ongoing. Currently, he describes himself as a self-employed tradesman.[2]
In the early parliamentary elections of 2013, Bostik unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the Chamber of Deputies for the populist, anti-immigrant and euro-skeptic party Tomio Okamura's Dawn of Direct Democracy, today known as Dawn - National Coalition. He defends his association with the controversial Dawn – National Coalition as the only party free from the corrupt influences that he says pervades all the other parties: “A political party without the influence of lobbyists must exist. That’s why our Direct Democracy Dawn of Tomio Okamura has rejected various donations from these people. Political parties should not be under the influence of lobbyists.”
Bostik was a candidate for president of the Czech Republic. The election took place from January 12–13, 2018. Bostik did not advance to the runoff election, which was held from January 26–27.
On the trail
Campaign Finance
Bostik accumulated the necessary 50,000 signatures for competing in the presidential election, announcing in August 2017 that he had collected 63,242 signatures. As per new rules over the financing of political parties and entities, he opened a compulsory transparent bank account for the presidential election, into which a maximum of CZK40mn ($1.8mn) could be garnered with a further CZK10mn possible for the runoff. As of September 22, 2017, the account held no funds. He said he did not intend to invest more than several tens of thousands of crowns into his 2018 presidential election campaign.
Advisers & Staff
Bostik said that he had no structured campaign team. “I have no team to organise my campaign – I have only been helped by more than 1,000 volunteers.”
Polls
As of October 2017, there were no polls that included Bostik’s candidacy.
| Czech Republic Presidential Election, 2018 | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poll | Milos Zeman | Michal Horacek | Jiri Drahos | ||||||||||||||||
| Medea Research August 18-27, 2017 | 42.25% | 17.12% | 19.05% | ||||||||||||||||
| Focus August 14-28, 2017 | 28.1% | 12.4% | 13% | ||||||||||||||||
| AVERAGES | 35.18% | 14.76% | 16.03% | ||||||||||||||||
| Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org. | |||||||||||||||||||
On the issues
Domestic Policy
Reflecting his well-publicized troubles with the tax authorities and the courts – “I have admitted everything, all the debts, all the problems I have in my life, because they would still float to the surface” – Bostik was an outspoken critic of what he called the “judiciary-police-executor mafia” that operates in the country.
He also wanted to slim down the apparatus of the President's Office, have direct elections for mayors and also restrict the funding of political parties by the state.
Foreign Policy
As a euro-skeptic, Bostik called for a referendum on staying in the European Union, pushing for a so-called ‘Czexit’. In line with the prevailing mood in the Czech Republic, he was against migrant quotas that the EU was trying to push onto member states as a way of dispersing the migrants flowing into frontline states like Italy and Greece.
Political savvy
Character
Bostik presented himself as the candidate for the working class and an outsider in the election. “I know how people live with ten thousand [crowns, $460] and less. I’m always among ordinary people. I work with a normal job,” he said.
Recent news
See also
Footnotes
