2013 Czech Republic Legislative Election Oct 25-26,2013

The Czech Republic Legislative Election is scheduled for Oct 25-26,2013, seven months before the Constitutional Expiry of the Elected Parliament's 4-year Term

The Czech Republic Parliament is Bi-Cameral -

• Chamber Deputies(Lower House)has 200 Members and
• Senate(Upper House)has 81 Members

Polling stations were open on Friday Oct 25,2013 afternoon and evening. Voting is also taking place between 08:00 (06:00 GMT) and 14:00 on Saturday Oct 26,2013

Background

• The previous election in May 2010, resulted in formation of the three party Centre-Right Govt ODS‑TOP09‑VV, representing 118 seats, and being led by  Petr Necas

• On April 22,2012, after a split of Public Affairs(VV) over corruption accusations against the party leadership itself , the ruling coalition of Civic Democratic Party(ODS) and TOP 09 dissolved its coalition with Public Affairs

• The Czech Republic Govt elected in May 2010, being led by Prime Minister Petr Necas, was forced to resign on June 17,2013, after a corruption and bribery scandal. 

• A Caretaker Govt led by Prime Minister Jiri Rusnok was then appointed by the Czech Republic President but narrowly lost a vote of confidence on August 7,2013 leading to its resignation six days later. 

•  The Czech Republic Parliament then voted yes to a motion about dissolving itself on August 20,2013 with a call for new elections within 60 days after presidential assent. 

• The Czech Republic President gave his approving assent on August 28,2013 and scheduled the elections for  October 25-26,2013 

Political Parties Contesting the 2013 Czech Republic Legislative Election

CSSD Confirmed Bohuslav Sobotka was the party’s candidate for Prime Minister and on beforehand excluded forming any government coalitions with either TOP09 or ODS

TOP 09 leader Karel Schwarzenberg said the main issue for his party during the campaign, would be to clash Milos Zeman(Czech Republic President) and his so-called attempted abuse of the constitution

ODS,a Right-Wing Party led by Miroslava Nemcova targeting mainly the middle class voters and young voters, with special support incentives for under 30s to buy their first home and make it easier for them to start their own business

Public Affairs(VV)has decided not to participate in the upcoming general elections

Romany Democratic Party is a new strongly left-wing party led by Miroslav Tancos was founded in August 2013, in order to give the 250,000 Czech Romanies - equal to 2.5% of the Czech population - a political voice

Liberal Environment Party(LES)  is a new party founded on August 27,2013, being led by the former president of the Green Party (SZ) Martin Bursik established in protest, when SZ opted to move into a more Centre-Left position, instead of staying at the Cenre of the political spectrum

Dawn of Democracy(Usvit)leader Tomio Okamura announced his party would be running the election independently in all regions, funded by his personal money and stated that candidates from Public Affairs and other organisations could join his candidate lists, if they shared the values of his party

Incumbent Parliament -200 Seats

The box below shows the distribution of seats in the incumbent Chamber of Deputies on August 20, 2013, at the last working day before the parliament was dissolved.

101 seats are required for majority

Distribution of seats in Chamber of Deputies		On August 20,2013
ČSSD	Czech Social Democratic Party	54
ODS	Civic Democratic Party	48
TOP09	TOP 09	42
KSČM	Communist Party	26
VV	Public Affairs	11
LIDEM	Liberal Democrats	8*
LEV 21 - NS	LEC -21 National Socialists (Jiří Paroubek and Petr Benda)	2
Úsvit	Dawn of Direct Democracy	1
PSZ	Pro Sport and Health (Josef Dobeš)	1
JIH 12	Jihocesi 2012	1
-	Independents	6