Czech ANO party withdraws anti-migrant EU election ad

Czech populist party ANO (Renew) withdrew an election ad showing a boat full of migrants with a sign reading “Vote before it is too late”, saying it could frighten some citizens.

The election ad showing a boat full of black men in rough seas with the ANO party logo was to be printed in Czech newspapers last Friday, Seznam Zprávy informed. However, just a few hours before printing, the party decided to replace the ad with another one.

“Yes, we had such a visual produced, but we decided not to use it in the campaign. Although it only shows the reality of what is happening today and every day on Europe’s borders, we felt that it could frighten some citizens, and that was not our aim,” ANO spokesman Martin Vodička told Seznam Zprávy.

ANO chair and former Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš is also convinced that the planned ads reflected reality.

“What we originally wanted to show is happening, which is why you can’t say we are scaring people. By the way, the consequences of European migration policy were unfortunately also seen in Germany on Friday,” he wrote to Seznam Zprávy, referring to the Islamist attack in Mannheim that eventually resulted in the death of a police officer.

In the new ad, ANO shows signs with slogans such as “People without jobs”, “Bugs instead of meat”, or “Ban our cows” – issues ANO has raised in the run-up to the EU elections, promising voters that it would protect them from these scenarios.

(Aneta Zachová | Euractiv.cz)

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