In 2018, a candidate stood in the municipality of Našiměřice against the mayor, who had led the municipality without a break since 1994. The goal was not only to get into the council but to gain a majority and replace the mayor. Our candidates won a comfortable majority with a gain of 58.6% and successfully occupied the post of mayor and deputy mayor
Basic information
Našiměřice is a village located in the Znojmo district, in the South Moravian region. It belongs to the area of the former Sudetenland. Around 200 people live in the village, of which the authorized number of voters is 173.
The majority of residents commute elsewhere for work, either to catchment municipalities in the microregion of Miroslavsko, Brno, or abroad. The village also has a large number of agriculturally active people, which is indicated by the well-kept fields and orchards in the vicinity.
The village has a pub with an older children’s playground in front of it, a smaller library attached to the municipal office, a concrete sports field in the upper part of the village and a private horse riding stable where local competitions are held.
Targeting main issues
We divided the problems in the village into two categories. Material problems and non-material problems. Among the material problems was the absence of municipal sewerage. It has been talked about in the village for many years, but its implementation has never started. Another problem is poor accessibility by public transport to and from the village.
Non-material problems included mainly the absence of services and cultural life. Although the municipality provides library services, it is not the services of a full-fledged library, only a loan book fund of a small size. The absence of cultural events, of which three or four were held on average during the year, also led to an outflow of young people to nearby towns and cities.
Program ideas & Working with sentiment
Based on the identification of basic problems, a program was drawn up that focused on more effective use of subsidies for municipalities, revitalization of municipal property and the construction of new playgrounds, the establishment of parenting groups as a replacement for kindergartens, and the establishment of a leisure clubhouse for youth with the possibility of renting the municipal hall free of charge to citizens of the municipality for private event.
Sentiment also played a role when compiling program theses and election promises. Before the Velvet Revolution, the village had a small-class kindergarten and a primary school, known for its quality in the surrounding area. After its cancellation, the children of Našíměřice must attend schools and kindergartens in the vicinity. In this way, the parenting groups addressed both the insufficient offer of the number of kindergartens and the idea of returning the „nursery“ to Nasimerice.
Campaining
Before these municipal elections, there was practically no campaigning in the village. However, since our candidates were against a long-time mayor and some of them were not well known in the village, we decided to go the route of a door-to-door campaign and distribution of election brochures to voters‘ mailboxes in the village.
The most effective form was direct contact with the voters, who managed to convince of the narrative that if changes were not possible during the more than twenty years of the previous mayor’s tenure, then it is time to try another way.
Shortly after the opposing candidates saw that we had printed pamphlets and distributed them, they did the same, promising virtually identical program priorities.
Results
The election results completely fulfilled our goal. Despite the fact that our candidates ran against a mayor with more than twenty years of experience (who was also running under the auspices of the parliamentary party Starostové a nezávislí), they won.
Candidates from Naši z Našiměřic won the comfortable majority, which was 4 mandates out of 7, and comfortably elected the new mayor and deputy mayor of the village.
