Czech legislative election, 2017

Background

The Constitution states that every four years an election to the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Parliament, must be held. The Government is responsible to the Chamber of Deputies and stays in power only if has the confidence of the majority of members of parliament. Article 19(1) of the Constitution provides that any citizen of the Czech Republic who has right to vote and is twenty-one years old is eligible to serve as an MP.

The Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD), which emerged as the largest party in the 2013 elections, formed a centre-left Coalition government with ANO 2011 (ANO) and the Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party (KDU–ČSL). The ČSSD was represented by eight ministers in the Government, with its leader, Bohuslav Sobotka, as Prime Minister. The runner-up of the election, ANO 2011, was represented by six of its members in the Government, led by businessman Andrej Babiš, who was promoted to the role of the First Deputy Prime Minister and served as Finance Minister. The smallest party in the coalition, the Christian Democrats, were represented by three ministers, and their leader Pavel Bělobrádek held the position of Deputy Prime Minister. The biggest opposition party in the Chamber of Deputies was the Communist Party. The centre-right opposition to the government was represented by the TOP 09 and by the Civic Democratic Party (ODS).

2014 Senate and municipal elections

In 2014, voters elected 27 out of 81 Senators and approximately 62,300 members of local councils. The ČSSD won the Senate election but lost many bigger cities, including the capital Prague to its coalition partner, ANO 2011.

2016 regional and Senate elections

In October 2016, voters elected 675 members of regional assemblies in 13 regions of the nation (except Prague) which then elected their regional leadership. ANO 2011 won the election with 21.05%, while ČSSD only managed to win two regions — South Bohemia and Vysočina - and 15.25% nationwide. The Communists (KSČM) suffered the biggest loss, winning 10.54% and losing 96 seats in the assemblies. The centre-right Civic Democrats (ODS) won 9.47% nationwide and 76 seats in regional assemblies.

Alongside the regional elections, about 2.7 million voters were asked to choose 27 out of 81 senators. The KDU-ČSL won these elections with nine new senators, while both ANO and ČSSD suffered heavy loses. Even though ANO had 14 candidates in the second round, only three managed to win election. The Social Democrats lost 10 seats, including that of their Vice President of the Senate Zdeněk Škromach. The centre-right ODS had six candidates in the second round, with four of them being elected (including Zdeněk Nytra, who ran as an independent).

Electoral system

The 200 members of the Chamber of Deputies are elected from 14 multi-member constituencies using open list proportional representation, in which they can give preferential votes for up to four candidates on their chosen list. Seats are allocated using the d'Hondt method, with an electoral threshold of single 5% for parties, 10% for two-party alliances, 15% for three-party alliances and 20% for alliances of four or more parties. Candidates who receive preferential votes from more than 5% of voters are moved to the top of their list, and in cases where more than one candidate receives over 5% of the preferential votes, they are ranked in order of votes received.

Contesting political parties and candidates

Parties currently represented in the Chamber of Deputies include:

Campaign

For the first time in Czech elections, campaign spending is limited, with a cap of 90 million CZK (approximately €3,300,000) for each party.