Campaign posters promising everything from metro-line extensions to new surveillance cameras cover every available surface throughout Prague as the city prepares to head to the polls Oct. 20–21 to elect its next mayor.

The visibility of the two main candidates — incumbent Pavel Bém of the Civic Democrats (ODS) and Social Democrat (ČSSD) Petra Buzková — might cause one to conclude that they are locked in a closer race than they really are. Bém, first elected four years ago, is widely expected to return for a second term in a city that traditionally votes ODS.

In Prague's last local election, in 2002, the conservative ODS won slightly more than 35 percent of the vote. The ČSSD won not-quite 15 percent of the vote.

Buzková, a former education minister, left high politics in June but has always ranked as one of the country's most popular politicians. Analysts agree that she is a solid opponent. But they add that she is in a race she can't win.

Buzková is aware of that.

"It will be an extremely tough race," she said during a televised debate with Bém Oct. 15. "I don't see any shame in not winning."

A swan song campaign

A lawyer by training, the 40-year-old Buzková has been in politics since 1992. She is not a polarizing figure like former Health Minister David Rath, who was the ČSSD's lead candidate for Prague during the general election this June but fared poorly at the polls. Analysts also note that Buzková's style isn't as aggressive as that of ČSSD Chairman and former Prime Minister Jiří Paroubek.

"She was the best the ČSSD had to offer," says Tomáš Lebeda, a political analyst at the Czech Academy of Sciences. "In Prague, the ČSSD is traditionally weak, so the party has to compensate by coming up with an interesting candidate."

With tradition on his side, Bém is still the frontrunner. The 43-year-old mayor, who worked as a psychiatrist and family therapist before entering politics, is moreover the country's second-most popular politician, according to a survey published by the Stem/

Mark agency Sept. 25.

"My colleagues in Prague convinced me to return to politics to run for mayor," Buzková told The Prague Post while campaigning in Prague 5 on a recent afternoon. "It will be good last step in my political career."

Unlike in neighboring Slovakia, the Czech Republic doesn't have direct elections for mayor and city councilors. Voters elect parties rather than candidates directly, but can circle their preferred candidates listed on their voting ticket. But, since parties select their mayoral candidates before the election takes place, voters know that by giving their vote to a given party it means they support a specific mayoral candidate.

Platforms

As always, the issues dominating this year's election campaign are traffic control, rent deregulation, rising public transportation costs, crime and corruption.

Bém and Buzková say they can agree on at least some of these issues and are capable of working together — which they may have to do if the ČSSD gets enough votes and Buzková becomes deputy mayor.

Buzková pledges to bring more finances to the city's kindergartens and day-care centers, as well as to improve affordable housing options for seniors. She is also promising not to raise the cost of public transportation from the current 20 Kč (90 U.S. cents) for a single-transfer ticket, and to improve security by increasing the number of surveillance cameras.

Bém, meanwhile, has made improving traffic flow one of the key issues of his campaign. He says he would like to see a highway bypass that would divert some of Prague's traffic away from the city center. He also pledges to help decrease traffic by investing into extending the city's metro lines. Like Buzková, Bém has also put security at the forefront of his campaign and promises to increase the number of police officers patrolling city streets.

Loyal Prague voters

Petr Hulinský, a ČSSD member and Prague's deputy mayor, says that that during his time at City Hall, the ČSSD and the ODS have generally been able to find compromises within their individual programs.

Which isn't to say that the local election campaign has been spared from the usual aggressive bickering between the two parties. The ČSSD, for instance, complains that the ODS has spent an exorbitant amount of money on campaign posters this year. When Bém told television viewers recently that the cost of his party's campaign hovered around 7 million Kč, the same amount that the ČSSD spent on its, Buzková laughed in his face.

"I'm sure the real amount that the ODS spent is several times higher," she said. "But let them have it. In the end, the campaign isn't a competition about who has the most posters."

Posters aside, the ODS does have substantial advantage over the ČSSD: a pool of loyal Prague voters.