Karlovy Vary - The initiators of the referendum on the Vřídelní colonnade in Karlovy Vary, as well as lawyer Ronald Němec as a private individual, were unsuccessful at the Regional Court in Plzeň with lawsuits concerning the referendum. The court dismissed both lawsuits. The referendum is invalid due to low participation; the plaintiffs unsuccessfully sought a ruling from the court that the city obstructed the holding of the referendum.
Both lawsuits accused the city of a negative campaign, as well as of having some polling stations in different locations than voters were used to. However, the court stated that the city did not obstruct regular voting and it was not proven that the city ran an unlawful campaign for the referendum. "It has not been proven that there was such a violation of the provisions of the law on local referendums that could have influenced its outcome," summarized Judge Alexandr Krysl in the ruling.
According to a statement by its member Ota Řezanka, the preparatory committee still needs to consult on the next steps. "We can only congratulate our opponent - Mr. Mayor Petr Kulhánek. For now, he has managed to prevent the restoration of the cast iron colonnade. He utilized all his legal options, spread many false statements, and succeeded in confusing or deterring a sufficient number of people so that the referendum was invalid. Only 294 votes were missing, even negative ones. A total of 9,564 people voted for the restoration of the cast iron colonnade," stated Řezanka.
He added that the aim of the referendum initiators is to continue reversing the trend of architectural devastation in the spa area of Karlovy Vary and to initiate proper care for the monuments. "We collectively fear modernity arising from the architectural competition and reject the general reconstruction of the current building of the Vřídelní colonnade," Řezanka added.
As lawyer Němec said to reporters today, he wanted his lawsuit primarily to compel the courts to establish clear rules of conduct for cities when organizing referendums. "Legal theory and practice do not precisely state how a municipality or state should behave in the event of a request from the residents of the city or the Czech Republic," said Němec. He will file a cassation complaint against the decision and intends to take the dispute, for example, to the Constitutional Court.
In the referendum, city residents decided on the question "Do you support the restoration of the historical Vřídelní colonnade by architects F. Fellner and H. Helmer and the cessation of repairs of the current Vřídelní colonnade from 1975 that is in a state of emergency?" The court also had to decide on the referendum itself. The councilors initially did not approve the referendum announcement due to part of the question concerning the cessation of emergency repairs.
During the referendum, which took place on January 12 and 13, only 33.66% of voters participated. A participation of 35% is required for the referendum to be valid. The majority of those who participated in the referendum wanted the replica.
The court's decision means that the city can continue with repairs on the emergency state of the colonnade from the 1970s. "Currently, the extent of the most necessary work to eliminate the emergency condition is being established so that the colonnade can function and be accessible to the public in the coming years and fulfill the distribution of spa water to the spa sanatoria. At the same time, the city's architect, who will start on March 1, has the task of assembling a professional team to formulate an architectural competition that will be prepared in parallel," said city mayor Petr Kulhánek (KOA) to ČTK.
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