He started a bigger discussion on the networks tweet of former hockey player Jiří Hrdina. He already wrote on April 2: “Ladies and gentlemen from the opposition. I’m starting to understand you. How can Berkovec and Matocha get your votes in the election to the Čt council? What is this? You ignore the votes from Letna..? Then don’t be surprised that the Bures will win. Change your mind, it’s time. How are we supposed to support you after such bullshit..? You hate us…”
It started a discussion that still doesn’t end. The question of who elected as possible future councilors who are associated with the destabilization of Czech Television, specifically the names of Stanislav Berkovc and Pavel Matocha, is essential.
We did not vote for the CT Council and we will not vote for any former politicians – such as Mr. Stanislav Berkovec, or councilors who caused damage to the CT – such as Mr. Matocha or Veselý.
Independent experts belong to the ranks and not politicians!
— Pirates (@PiratskaStrana) April 3, 2026
On the contrary, the ODS did not comment on the way Martin Baxa and Lucie Bartošová voted for a long time. The fact that the votes for Berkovci and Matocha could have come from the ranks of the ODS was also stated by Pavel Novotný, who has been associated with the party for years and who also replied to Jiří Hrdin’s tweet.
“We helped last time too,” he mentioned, among other things, saying that it is a shame for ODS and TOGETHER.
Where the “questionable” voices came from for people who seek to weaken the public media remains unclear. Even its chairman Martin Kupka denied that they were from ODS.
“I consider it a mistake that people who have damaged CT and its independence in the past made it to the shortlist. Our MPs did not vote for them. It is quite clear that, for the reasons stated, Pavel Matocha, Lubomír Veselý, Roman Bradáč or Jiří Šlégr will not be among the candidates we support. We will not even vote for Stanislav Berkovc, who appeared among the new candidates,” the candidate wrote, among other things, on the X network. Saturday.
Lukáš Valenta, among others, immediately pointed out that the whole thing “doesn’t fit” from the point of view of the ODS, in Berkovec’s case.
Mr. President, there are 7 opposition members of the committee. TOGETHER they represent 4. The result of the vote shows that at least 4 opposition members voted for Berkovci. 3 members outside SPOLU declared that they did not vote for Berkovci. Even if they lied, at least 1 member TOGETHER voted for Berkovci. Thank you.
— Lukáš Valenta (@Lukas__Valenta) April 4, 2026
It is certain that votes were also given by the opposition to those it considers to be ideologically burdened personalities. And some of the opposition parties are obfuscating, or outright lying. However, critics of the vote agree with Pavle Novotný that the support of Berkovce and Matocha has long been supported by the ODS, but also by the People’s Party.
The dispute regarding the future election of CT councilors
- The Committee for Media Affairs has 18 members (11 from the ruling party, 7 from the opposition). Its chairman is František Talíř (TOGETHER, nominated by KDU-ČSL).
- 36 candidates participated in the public hearing on April 1. The committee reduced their number to half. At the same time, there were people left in the selection who are demonstrably weakening ČT in the long term. It concerns Stanislav Berkovc, Pavel Matoch, but also Luboš Xaver Veselé.
- What is certain now is that the aforementioned received the votes of the opposition. STAN, Lidovci, ODS and Pirates, however, claim that “it wasn’t them”.
- Of the 18 candidates, the House of Representatives will probably elect six members of the Council of Czech Television at the April meeting, but their mandate may not begin until May 28, 2026 at the earliest.
- Hypothetically, the opposition had a chance to eliminate questionable individuals for them already in the mentioned committee, thus they would not have a chance to be elected at all.
