Prague/Zlín - You can hold the Olympic Games in Prague in 2016, that's fine with us, but you have to ask first. That seems to be the message Czech people are sending towards their elected representatives.
The results of a recent public opinion poll show that 62 per cent of those asked support the idea of holding a referendum on the Olympics while 28% are against and 10% do not have a strong idea about the issue.
The survey was conducted by Factum Invenio agency in the first week of October and only the answers of eligible voters were included, altogether 965 people. Organization of independent mayors, mainly from small towns, paid for it.
Confirmed by another poll
People living outside Prague are slightly more in favour of holding the referendum. Whereas 62% of them want the plebiscite, in the capital support for the vote is just 59%.
The findings were confirmed by the results of another poll, conducted by STEM agency around the same time, asking 1280 people in total.
51 per cent of those asked said they were in favour of a referendum, six per cent believed it is only for the citizens of Prague to decide and 43 per cent did not care to vote.
In case the plebiscite was to happen tomorrow, the Prague Olympics would get a blessing from the Czech population, but only with a slight margin 54:46.
Petition reaches Prague city hall
"Popular opinion on this matter is unequivocal. Even among those who are in favour of the Olympics, majority supports the referendum. I think that people understand the necessity to approve such a huge investment from public money by a plebiscite," Senator Jana Juřenčáková said, commenting on the results.
Organization of independent mayors, whom Juřenčáková represents in the upper chamber of the parliament, strongly demands a referendum. A petition which calls for the plebiscite was handed over to Prague's municipal authorities last Friday.
The city council of Prague now has 60 days to decide whether or not it endorses the petition. If they decide to go with the motion, they will be expected to prepare a special referendum law which would then be brought forward in the parliament.
It all comes down to the money
The mayoral anti-Olympic alliance's biggest worry is that bringing the Olympics to Prague would effectively mean that any other major investment projects in the country would be put on hold for years to come.
And not just those concerning sports and free time activities, but also the infrastructural ones.
The group, presenting itself as an anti-tax discrimination crusader, wants the capital to pay for the Olympics from its own budget. And should Prague make any profit, it is free to keep it, the mayors say.
