Politics of the Czech Republic

Czech voters returned a split verdict in the June 2002 parliamentary elections, giving the left-of-center Social Democrats (ČSSD) and Communists majority, without any posibility to form functional government together due to Vladimír Špidla's strong anticommunism. The results produced a ČSSD coalition government with Christian Democrats (KDU-ČSL) and Liberals (US-DEU), while Civic Democrats (ODS) and Communists (KSČM) took place in opposition. The vote ratio was the tiniest 101:99. After many buffetings and, finally, catastrophic results of the June 2004 European Parliament elections the government was restructured on the same basis but with Špidla ousted after a revolt in his own party.

Prime Minister is the head of government and wields considerable powers, including the right to set the agenda for most foreign and domestic policy, mobilize the parliamentary majority, and choose governmental ministers.

Václav Klaus, now President of the Czech Republic, former chairman of Civic Democrats (ODS) remains one of the country's most popular politicians. As formal head of state, he is granted limited specific powers such as the right to enact a veto on legislation, nominate Constitutional Court judges, appoint the prime minister and dissolve parliament under certain special and rare conditions.

The legislature is bicameral, with a Chamber of Deputies and a Senate. After the split of the former Czechoslovakia, the powers and responsibilities of the now defunct federal parliament were transferred to the Czech National Council, which renamed itself the Chamber of Deputies. Chamber delegates are elected for 4-year terms on the basis of proportional representation with 5% election threshold. There are 14 voting districts identical to the country's administrative regions.

As the system in Czech conditions repeatedly produces very weak governments (a specific problem is about 20% support of the Communists shunned by all the other parties) there is a constant talk about changing it but without much chance of really pushing the reform through. An attempt to increase majority elements by tweaking the system parameters (more smaller districts etc.) by ČSSD and ODS during their "opposition agreement" 1998-2002 was vehemently opposed by smaller parties and blocked by the Constitutional Court as going too much against the constitution-stated proportional principle.

The Czech Senate was first elected in 1996; its members serve for 6-year terms with one-third being elected every 2 years. This is patterned after the U.S. Senate but each constituency is of (roughly) same size and the system used is two-round runoff voting. Senate is very unpopular among public and suffers of low election turnaround (as low as 10% in some districts).

The country's highest court of appeals is the Supreme Court. The Constitutional Court, which rules on constitutional issues, is appointed by the president, and its 15 members serve 10-year terms.

Data

Country name:
conventional long form: Czech Republic
conventional short form:
Czechia (rarely used), Bohemia (traditional form)
local long form:
Česká republika
local short form:
Česko

Data code:
CZ

Government type:
parliamentary democracy

Capital: Prague

Administrative divisions:
14 Regions of the Czech Republic including the capital of Prague. The older 73 districts (okresy, singular - okres) and 4 municipalities* (města, singular - město) have been disbanded in an ill-executed administrative reform; however are still traditionally recognized and remain the seats of various branches of state administration:
Benešov, Beroun, Blansko, Břeclav, Brno-město*, Brno-venkov, Bruntál, České Budějovice, Česká Lípa, Český Krumlov, Cheb, Chomutov, Chrudim, Děčín, Domažlice, Frýdek-Místek, Havlíčkův Brod, Hodonín, Hradec Králové, Jablonec nad Nisou, Jeseník, Jičín, Jihlava, Jindřichův Hradec, Karlovy Vary, Karviná, Kladno, Klatovy, Kolín, Kroměříž, Kutná Hora, Liberec, Litoměřice, Louny, Mělník, Mladá Boleslav, Most, Náchod, Nový Jičín, Nymburk, Olomouc, Opava, Ostrava*, Pardubice, Pelhřimov, Písek, Plzeň*, Plzeň-jih, Plzeň-sever, Prachatice, Praha*, Praha-Východ, Praha-Západ, Přerov, Příbram, Prostějov, Rakovník, Rokycany, Rychnov nad Kněžnou, Semily, Sokolov, Strakonice, Šumperk, Svitavy, Tábor, Tachov, Teplice, Trutnov, Třebíč, Uherské Hradiště, Ústí nad Labem, Ústí nad Orlicí, Vsetín, Vyškov, Žďár nad Sázavou, Zlín, Znojmo

Independence: 1 January 1993 (Czechoslovakia split into the Czech and Slovak Republics)

National holidays: see Public holidays in the Czech Republic Constitution:
ratified 16 December 1992; effective 1 January 1993

Legal system:
civil law system based on Austro-Hungarian codes; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction; legal code modified to bring it in line with Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and especially EU acquis communautaire obligations and to expunge Marxist-Leninist legal theory

Suffrage:
18 years of age, universal

Executive branch:
chief of state:
President Václav Klaus (since 7 March 2003)
head of government:
Prime Minister Stanislav Gross (since August 2004); Deputy Prime Ministers Zdeněk Škromach, Martin Jahn, Pavel Němec, Milan Šimonovský
cabinet:
Cabinet appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister
elections:
president elected by Parliament for a five-year term; election last held 28 February 2003 (next to be held NA January 2008); prime minister appointed by the president
election results:
Václav Klaus elected president; Václav Klaus received 142 votes in the 281-member Parliament.

Legislative branch:
bicameral Parliament or Parlament consists of the Senate or Senát (81 seats; elected by popular vote to six-year terms) and the Chamber of Deputies or Poslanecká sněmovna (200 seats; elected by popular vote to four-year terms)
elections:
Senate - last general held 5.-6. November 2004 (next to be held NA November 2006 ); Chamber of Deputies - last held 14-15 June 2002 (next to be held by NA June 2006)
election results:
Senate - percent of vote by party - see ext. link; seats by party - ODS 26, "Open Democracy" Caucus 16, KDU-CSL 15, CSSD 11, Caucus "Independents" 5, independent 8; Chamber of Deputies - percent of vote by party - see ext. link; seats by party - CSSD 70, ODS 58, KSCM 41, KDU-CSL 21, US-DEU 10

Juridicial branch:
Supreme Court, chairman and deputy chairmen are appointed by the president for life(?); Constitutional Court, 15 judges appointed by the president for 10 years

Political parties and leaders:
See List of political parties in the Czech Republic.
Christian Democratic Union - Czechoslovak People's Party or KDU-ČSL [Miroslav Kalousek, chairman]; Civic Democratic Party or ODS [Mirek Topolánek, chairman]; Czech Social Democratic Party or ČSSD [Stanislav Gross, chairman]; Freedom Union-Democratic Union or US-DEU [Pavel Němec, chairman]; Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia or KSČM [Miroslav Grebeníček, chairman]; Civic Democratic Alliance or ODA [Jiřina Nováková, chairman] - now largely defunct

Political pressure groups and leaders:
Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions

International organization participation: Australia Group, BIS, CE, CEI, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, EU (among the 10 new members since May 2004), FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA (observer), IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMIK, UNMOP, UNMOT, UNOMIG, UPU, Visegrád group, WCO, WEU (associate), WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, Zangger Committee

Flag description:
two equal horizontal bands of white (top) and red with a blue isosceles triangle based on the hoist side (identical to the flag of the former Czechoslovakia - colours are derived from the Czech coat of arms - red and white from the silver lion on the red plane and blue from the Moravian eagle or from Slovak (and generally Slavic) tricolour)

External link

http://www.volby.cz/ - website with results of all elections in Czech and English