The question was whether to remain a narrow more or less pure voice for personal freedom and individual rights or whether to try to broaden our somewhat limited appeal to voters by adopting positions likely to appeal to other constituencies that are currently unlikely to vote for us. We discussed this seriously after the not unexpected disappointing election results.
Personally, I would rather remain a pure unsullied voice. But this view did not prevail. Anezka Vanickova will be replacing me as caucus chair to take us in a new direction. Those of us wishing to remain narrowly focused recognize our failure and will support our new chair without reservation.
With the dissolution of the Progress Caucus of FDS, we decided to function as a party rather than a caucus of a party. Nikolas Ptacek has replaced me as Party Leader and will be our presidential candidate. I will remain Party Floor Leader in the Federalni Partlement and my Assistant Floor Leader will be Vladan Krecji. The new name which we feel is more descriptive of our thinking is Demokraticky Opravarensky Zvaz (DOZ).
We recognize that the Kriz Administration has initiated reforms of the military that may take the military out of politics at least for a while. That is certainly a good thing. But we represent a view of the future that likely is different from his view or his party’s view and is certainly different from the view of the RLS now.
We believe Kriz’s SDF and the RLS will likely maintain their relation as a ruling coalition. This does not mean we would never consider working with either; should this unlikely occasion arise we are certainly willing to talk to either about under what terms we would agree to form a coalition.
We in the DOZ certainly support the effort of President Kriz to reform the military so it does not have the compulsive urge to throw out the government every few years. Our support on this issue does not mean we should not raise policy questions. And an issue we agree needs to be raised is whether we should stay in our two communist organization treaties. Raised again is more accurate. We have tried to raise this issue without success.
Along the same line we think we should discuss seriously where our foreign policy should be headed.
Our other topic at our meeting was selection of a presidential candidate. In all honesty we were a minority caucus in a minority party and now are the smallest of three parties so we are aware the selection may be less important than in RLS or SDF. What we have done is determine the process which will be a vote by our current delegation in the Federalni Parlement.
Also, I am the default candidate as the Party Chair. But three ideas are floating around. First, rotate the candidates between original Opravit leadership, and NVS, POK and Zima Pact former officials. So far the Opravit and POK leaders would have had a shot while the Zima Pact people believe Communist ties might be fatal. That would leave NVS. Magdalena Kovarova and I are both former NVS Finance Ministers.
Another idea is select someone with a view to winning. This idea has not in point of fact gotten much traction.
Third our prospects of improving our position look fairly good. Aneska Vanickova has led our legislative effort during this period and so many feel she should be the nominee. She has not shown much interest preferring to focus on legislation.
Again I am the default candidate and the legislative delegation will make the decision.
My fellow Deltarians. 7 years ago i started this journey with all of you at a critical time. Our nation was in dire shape and our faith broken. But in these last few years i have seen the true spirit of the Deltarian people. A spirit of hope, perserverance and strength. Together we have been rebuilding our nation, we have passed legislation for the betterment of the country and we have unshackled ourselves from the demons of our past. And despite these successes, i stand before you humbly, knowing that he time of going and stepping aside for a leader should rather be to soon then to late. Next year i will have served this beautifull federation for 8 full years, 8 years of stability, resurgence and a improvement of our daily lives. I believe by trying to gain your trust for a third consecutive time i would be overstaying in this amazing office, i would break my pledge to serve my country to the best of my ability as most of my initial goals have been accomplished. I have worked in the last 4 years to build a new movement, a new party, and would like to give them the room to present new talent for the office of President. 8 years is a long time, and im proud to have served for so long and be the person to guide our nation through recovery. Now i shall be the person to give it room for new talent and vision. I will not be seeking reelection next year.
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