Tomio Okamura, leader of the Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) party, reinvigorated his campaign for Czechia’s withdrawal from the European Union (Czexit) ahead of October’s general election, Euractiv reported.
A recent STEM poll places SPD third with 13% support, trailing the ANO (32%) and Spolu (21%), a rebound attributed to SPD’s merger with three smaller national-oriented groups consolidating an anti-EU front.
Okamura’s manifesto demands referendums on exiting both the EU and NATO while advocating a ban on promoting Islam and condemning Ukrainian refugees in Czechia. He dismissed the EU Green Deal as a “crazy neo-Marxist plan” and unequivocally stated:
I would vote for the Czech Republic to leave the EU.
This hardline stance contrasts with his background: born in Tokyo to a Czech mother and Japanese-Korean father, he relocated to Prague in childhood. Before politics, he operated tourism businesses, including a bankrupt agency that photographed clients’ toys at global landmarks.
Notably, he served as vice-president of the Czech Travel Agencies Association and was appointed a 2008 EU intercultural dialogue ambassador, credentials at odds with his current rhetoric.
His fiercest critics include his own siblings. Brother Hayato Okamura, a Christian Democrat MP, publicly apologised in parliament for what he termed Tomio’s “Ukrainophobia,” accusing him of “objectively supporting the Kremlin.” Youngest sibling Osamu Okamura, an architect, campaigned for the Greens in 2024’s European elections pledging to “strengthen active EU membership.”
SPD faces multiple legal challenges, including an ongoing criminal investigation into alleged racial incitement during the 2024 European elections. In early 2025, Okamura was stripped of parliamentary immunity over these claims.
Despite Czexit’s improbability, Okamura may wield significant influence. Smaller parties risk falling below the 5% parliamentary threshold, potentially leaving SPD as ANO’s only viable coalition ally. This dynamic grants Okamura leverage to drag Czech politics toward the nationalist fringe, particularly after regional coalitions between ANO and SPD’s allies emerged in Moravian-Silesia, Vysočina, and Olomouc.
Though unlikely to implement Czexit, SPD’s resurgence ensures Euroscepticism will shape post-election negotiations, testing mainstream parties’ resolve to isolate national-oriented forces.
