Jan Čižinský (born 22 April 1978) is a Czech teacher and politician who has been serving as the mayor of Prague 7 since November 2014 and Member of the Prague City Assembly since October 2014.[1] Čižinský is a former leader of Prague Together association and former member of KDU-ČSL.
Early life and education
Čižinský taught Latin, history, and the basics of social sciences at Malostranský Gymnasium.[2] He was also active in the scout movement of Břevnov Monastery.[3]
Political career
Early political career
Prior to joining KDU-ČSL in 2003, Čižinský ran for the party as a non-party candidate and worked as an assistant to Cyril Svoboda and Marian Jurečka.[2]
Čižinský ran as a non-party candidate for KDU-ČSL in the Prague 1 municipal council in the 1998[4] and 2002 Czech municipal elections,[5] as well as the 2006 municipal elections as lead candidate of KDU-ČSL.[6] Despite the high number of preferential votes that were cast for him, he was not elected as a KDU-ČSL candidate in the capital city of Prague, mainly during 2006,[7]2010,[8] and 2013 parliamentary elections.[9]
2010s
After failing to be elected candidate in the municipal elections between 1998 and 2006, Čižinský moved to the Prague 7 district as KDU-ČSL candidate in the 2010 Czech municipal elections.[10]
In 2013, Čižinský came to the attention of the residents of Prague 7 as the organizer of a referendum on the plan to build a new town hall building for this part of the city for around one billion CZK. Thanks to his extraordinary contribution, he received the White Lily[11] For the same act, he received the "Chairman's Award" at KDU-ČSL convention in 2013 KDU-ČSL for civic bravery".[12]
Čižinský became a representative of the city district after 2014 municipal elections as leading candidate of the entity Praha 7 himself (e.g. KDU-ČSL and non-partisans).[13] The election movement won with 43.69% of the vote[14] and he was elected mayor of Prague 7 on 20 November 2014.[15] Čižinský was also elected as a member of KDU-ČSL to Prague City Council.[16]
In the 2017 Czech parliamentary election, Čižinský won 6,746 preferential votes and jumped from second place to the leader of the candidate Daniel Herman, thus being elected member of parliament.[17] At a press conference in front of Prague City Hall on 12 December, Čižinský announced the start of collecting 100,000 signatures of Prague voters to run for the City Council.[18] On 31 July 2018, he submitted the candidate of Prague to himself as its leader, supported by a petition with 97,095 signatures of Prague citizens, and started the election campaign.[19] Čižinský also lost his KDU-ČSL membership that was previously suspended.[20]
In the 2018 municipal elections, Čižinský received 80,552 preferential votes, the most number of all the candidates.[21]
2020s
In the 2022 municipal elections, Čižinský was the leader of Prague Self group and therefore also a candidate for the position as mayor of Prague.[22] Although he defended the mandate,[23] the candidate led by him finished fourth with a gain of 14.73%, thus reduced its representation.[24] Čižinský also defended his mandate as a representative of the Prague 7 district.[25]
Personal life
Čižinský's older brother, Pavel, served as mayor of Prague 1 between 2018 and 2020.[26]