Politics of the Czech Republic
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Politics of the Czech Republic | |
---|---|
Bicameral | |
Meeting place | |
Cabinet of the Czech Republic | |
Current cabinet | Cabinet of Petr Fiala |
Leader | Prime Minister |
Headquarters | Straka Academy, Prague |
Ministries | Ministerial departments |
Judicial branch | |
Name | Judiciary |
Constitutional Court | |
Seat | Joštova 625, Brno |
Supreme Court | |
Seat | Burešova 20, Brno |
Supreme Administrative Court | |
Seat | Moravské náměstí 6, Brno |
The
The highest legal document is the Constitution of the Czech Republic, complemented by constitutional laws and the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms. The current constitution went in effect on 1 January 1993,[2] after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia.
The Czech Republic has a
The
Executive branch
The president is the head of state, and the prime minister is the head of government. The majority of executive power is given to the Cabinet, which consists of the prime minister, deputy prime ministers and ministers (usually heads of the ministries).
Office | Name | Party | Since |
---|---|---|---|
President | Petr Pavel | Independent | 9 March 2023 |
Prime Minister | Petr Fiala | Civic Democratic Party | 28 November 2021 |
President
The president of the Czech Republic is elected by a direct vote for five years. They can only serve for two terms. The president is a formal head of state with limited executive powers specified in the articles 54 to 66 of the Constitution:[2]
- to appoint or dismiss the prime minister and other members of the Cabinet
- to appoint or dismiss the entire Cabinet
- to confirm or decline a resignation of the prime minister and other members of the Cabinet
- to summon a session of the Chamber of Deputies
- to dissolve the Chamber of Deputies when specific conditions described in the Constitution are met
- to pardon and mitigate penalties imposed by the court, order not to initiate criminal proceedings, suspend them if they are already initiated and to wipe previous criminal records
- to declare the date of elections to the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate
- to bestow state honors
- to appoint and promote generals
- to appoint judges
- to appoint the president and vice-president of the Supreme Audit Office
- to appoint members of the Board of the Czech National Bank
- to appoint or dismiss heads of diplomatic missions
The president is also the commander in chief of the Armed Forces and ratifies all domestic laws and international agreements.
Cabinet
The
Prime Minister
The prime minister is the head of government. The prime minister organizes the work of the Cabinet, presides over it and acts in its name. The prime minister sets the agenda for most foreign and domestic policies but has to obtain the president's approval to hire or dismiss any other member of the Cabinet.[5]
Ministers
Ministers are any member of the Cabinet who are not the prime minister. They are usually the head of a ministry, but this is not required. A ministry – sometimes called government department – is a governmental organisation that manages a specific sector of public administration. The number of ministries varies depending on the particular Cabinet and is managed by the Competence Law. As of 2021, the Czech Republic had 13 ministers and 14 ministries.[clarification needed]
Legislative branch
The Parliament (Parlament in Czech) consists of two houses. The lower house is the Chamber of Deputies, and the upper house is the Senate.
Office | Name | Party | Since |
---|---|---|---|
President of the Chamber of Deputies | Markéta Pekarová Adamová | TOP 09 | 10 November 2021 |
President of the Senate | Miloš Vystrčil | Civic Democratic Party | 19 February 2020 |
Chamber of Deputies
The
The Chamber of Deputies was formerly known as the Czech National Council. It has the same powers and responsibilities as the now-defunct Federal Assembly of the Czechoslovakia.
Senate
The Senate (Senát in Czech) has 81 members, each elected for a six-year term. Senate elections happen every two years and only a third of the seats is contested each time. All of the 81 Senate electoral districts are designed to contain roughly the same number of voters. The Senate elections use a two-round system, when the two most successful candidates from the first round face each other again in the second round usually a week later. Only citizens who have reached the age of 40 are eligible for candidacy. The senate's function is to be a stabilizing force and its influence is significantly lower than that of the Chamber of Deputies.
Judicial branch
The Czech court system recognizes four categories of courts and the Constitutional Court, which stands outside of the court system.
Constitutional Court
The Constitutional Court's main purpose is to protect people's constitutional rights and freedoms. The decisions of the court are final, cannot be overturned and are considered a source of law. The court is composed of 15 justices who are named for a renewable period of 10 years by the president and approved by the Senate.[6] Its functionality is similar to that of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Supreme courts
There are two supreme courts in the court system of the Czech Republic – the Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court. Both reside in Brno.
Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the Czech Republic is the court of highest appeal for almost all legal cases heard in the Czech Republic. The justices of the Supreme Court analyze and evaluate legally effective decisions of lower courts. They unify the Czech judicature.
Supreme Administrative Court
The Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic protects people from unlawful decisions and procedures of the state authorities. It examines objections to elections and has the authority to ban or suspend the activity of political parties. It resolves competence disputes between governmental organizations and also serves as disciplinary court for other members of the judiciary.
High courts
There are two high courts in the Czech Republic – one in Prague and one in Olomouc . They serve as courts of appeal to Regional Courts in cases, where the Regional Court acted as a court of first instance. Presidents of the high courts are appointed by the president for seven years. The vice-presidents are appointed by the minister of justice and also serve a seven-year term. A justice is required by the law to have at least eight years of experience before becoming a member of a High Court.[7]
Regional courts
Regional courts serve mainly as the courts of appeal to district courts and also as the only instance of administrative courts besides the Supreme Administrative Court. However, they can also act as courts of first instance in cases of more severe criminal charges, disputes between corporations or disputes over intellectual property. There are eight regional courts in the Czech Republic: in Brno, Ostrava, Hradec Králové, Ústí nad Labem, Plzeň, České Budějovice and two in Prague.
District courts
District courts serve as the courts of first instance in almost all civil or criminal proceedings. There is a total of 86 district courts in the Czech Republic. Notaries and executors are appointed by the minister of justice to their jurisdictions.
Regional government
The Czech Republic is divided in 14 administrative regions, including one for the capital of Prague. The older system of 73 administrative districts (okresy in Czech) and 4 municipalities was abandoned in 1999 in an administrative reform. Each of the regions has a regional council with a varied number of regional councilors and a president of the regional cabinet (hejtman in Czech) as its formal head. The capital of Prague is the only exception to this, as the City Council acts both as regional and municipal governing body and is led by a mayor. Regional councilors are elected for four-year terms similarly to deputies in the Chamber of Deputies. All adults eligible to vote are also eligible to be a candidate to a regional council.
Composition of the Senate
For the current composition of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic, see List of MPs elected in the 2017 Czech legislative election.
Party | Seats | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2016 [a] | 2018 | 2020 | TOTAL | ||||||
Mayors and Independents | 3 | 5 | 11 | 19 / 81
| |||||
Civic Democratic Party | 3 | 10 | 5 | 18 / 81
| |||||
Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party
|
7 | 2 | 3 | 12 / 81
| |||||
ANO 2011 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 / 81
| |||||
TOP 09 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 / 81
| |||||
Czech Social Democratic Party
|
2 | 1 | — | 3 / 81
| |||||
Senator 21
|
— | 1 | 2 | 3 / 81
| |||||
Czech Pirate Party | — | 1 | 1 | 2 / 81
| |||||
Green Party | 1 | — | — | 1 / 81
| |||||
Svobodní | — | — | 1 | 1 / 81
| |||||
Severočeši.cz | 1 | — | — | 1 / 81
| |||||
Ostravak Movement | — | 1 | — | 1 / 81
| |||||
Hradec Králové Democratic Club | — | — | 1 | 1 / 81
| |||||
Movement for Prague 11 | 1 | — | — | 1 / 81
| |||||
Marek Hilšer for Senate | — | 1 | — | 1 / 81
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United Democrats — Association of Independents | 1 | — | — | 1 / 81
| |||||
Citizens Together — Independents | 1 | — | — | 1 / 81
| |||||
Citizens Patriots | 1 | — | — | 1 / 81
| |||||
Independents | 1 | 3 | — | 4 / 81
| |||||
Total | 27 | 27 | 27 | 81 | |||||
Sources: Senate,
|
Recent political developments
From 1991, the Czech Republic, originally as part of Czechoslovakia and since 1993 in its own right, has been a member of the
Until 2017, either the
On 28 November 2021, Czech President Miloš Zeman appointed opposition leader
See also
References
- ^ "Czech Republic | World news". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
- ^ a b "Constitution of the Czech Republic". Chamber of Deputies, Parliament of the Czech Republic. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
- ^ "Democracy Index 2022: Frontline democracy and the battle for Ukraine" (PDF). Economist Intelligence Unit. 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
- ^ V-Dem Institute (2023). "The V-Dem Dataset". Retrieved 14 October 2023.
- ^ "Prime Minister | Government of the Czech Republic". www.vlada.cz. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
- ^ Parliament of the Czech Republic (1992), Constitution of the Czech Republic, Art. 84, archived from the original on 30 May 2012
- ^ "Zákon č. 6/2002 Sb" (in Czech). Retrieved 30 January 2021.
- ^ "EU, NATO, Schengen and Eurozone member states in Europe". 13 October 2018.
- ^ "Czech election: Billionaire Babis wins by large margin". BBC News. 21 October 2017.
- ^ "Czech billionaire Andrej Babis named new prime minister | DW | 06.12.2017". Deutsche Welle.
- ^ "Covid-positive Czech president appointed new PM from plexiglass box". BBC News. 28 November 2021.
- ^ "New Czech president aims to renew 'truth, dignity, respect' – DW – 01/30/2023". dw.com.
External links
- Constitution of the Czech Republic
- Website with results of all elections in Czech and English
- RZB Group: Czech Republic – Election 2006 Special
- Czech 2006 Election blog by the Prague Daily Monitor
- Erik Herron's Guide to Politics of East Central Europe and Eurasia
Government
- Official governmental website English
- Official presidential website English
- Official Senate website English
- Portal of the Public Administration Czech
- Chief of State and Cabinet Members CIA library on World leaders