Czech Political Parties - Essay Example

The Czech Republic is a parliamentary democracy formed in 1993 after the "Velvet Revolution" of 1989 led by former president Vaclav Havel. Then a part of Czechoslovakia, the country peacefully separated on Jan. 1, 1993, from the Slovakian regions that had been joined since after World War I. Despite some economic ups and downs, the country is one of the most stable Eastern European democracies to emerge from the breakup of the former Soviet Union (cia.gov). Typical of parliamentary democracies, the Czech Republic has multiple political parties that vie for seats in its bicameral legislature.

The upper house, or Senate, elects members every two years for six-year terms (81 total); the lower house, or Chamber of Deputies, has 200 members who are elected for four-year terms. The political parties often join together in coalitions to form a majority or other bloc of votes in the government. Five parties have 10 or more representatives in the Chamber of Deputies; one deputy is an independent (Czechcentrum.cz). More parties hold seats in the Senate, but only two hold more than 10 seats, the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) and the Coalition of Four (tykoalice), a coalition of four smaller political parties.

The country's oldest political party is the Czech Social Democratic Party (CSSD), formed in 1878 under the old Austro-Hungarian Empire. According to the official Czech government website, the CSSD helped in the formation of Czechoslovakia after WWI and merged with the Communist Party in 1948. It favors a "social market" economy but has also led the drive to privatize former state-owned industries, including the country's large telecommunications system. It is considered left-of-center. The CSSD is most popular with working-class voters in industrial centers, trade union members and public service employees.

It is similar to the Social Democratic Party in Germany and the British Labour Party and strongly in favor of the European Union, which the country joined in 2004. Prime Minister Ji Paroubek is the leader of this party, which holds 70 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 7 seats in the Senate. The Civic Democratic Party (ODS) formed after the split of the Civic Forum, shortly after the Velvet Revolution, which the Forum helped engineer. It is the party of the current president and former prime minister, Vaclav Klaus.

The ODS is generally considered a "right wing" party and has led right-of-center coalition governments in the recent past. The party supports low taxes and reduced bureaucracy, and Klaus's political views are in tune with those espoused by former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (Czechcentrum.cz). It is popular with the middle class, entrepreneurs, women and residents in larger cities, including Prague and Brno. The ODS won 36 of the 81 Senate seats in the 2004 elections (Volby.cz), and holds 57 seats in the lower chamber.

The Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSCM) is one of the last true Communist parties left in Central and Eastern Europe (Czechcentrum.cz), formed officially in 1990 but owing much to the former Communist Party of Czechoslovakia that ruled from 1948 to 1989. It remains loyal to socialism and strong state control of the economy, but is split about support for the EU. Its support is strongest among older Czechs and in areas of high unemployment. The KSCM holds 41 seats in the lower house and 2 seats in the Senate.

The Christian Democratic Union - Czechoslovak People's Party (KDU-CSL) is a mostly Roman Catholic, conservative party that is strong in rural areas and small towns, especially in Moravia. It is pro-EU and favors direct election of a president (Czechcentrum.cz). The party holds 21 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 6 in the Senate. It is closely allied with the Freedom Union-Democratic Union (US-DEU), which holds 10 seats in the lower house and 1 in the upper. PM Paroubek leads a coalition government dominated by the CSSD joined with the KDU-CSL and the US-DEU (EIU, 2006a).

The ODS is considered the main opposition party. The CSSD is expected to remain in power until the June elections; the ODS leads in opinion polls but the gap between it and the CSSD is narrowing and is strongly regionally based (EIU, 2006b). Other minor parties include: the Green Party; the Civic Democratic Alliance; the Path for Change; Hope; the Czech National Social Party; the Party for Security in Life and many others. Parties must gain at least 5 percent of the popular vote in order to hold a seat in the legislature.

ReferencesCzech Republic. CIA World Factbook. Retrieved April 10, 2006 from http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ez.html.Czech Republic: Political structure.(2006a,January 3). EIU ViewsWire. Retrieved April 8, 2006 from ProQuestdatabase (980696511).Czech Republic: Key developments. (2006b, February 6). EIU ViewsWire. Retrieved April 8, 2006 from ProQuest database (996622561).Political system. Official Czech Republic government website at Czech.cz. Retrieved April 10, 2006 from http://www.

czechcentrum.cz/index.phpsection=3.