Civic Movement

The Civic Movement (Czech: Občanské hnutí, OH) was a liberal political party based in the Czech Republic, which existed from 1991 to 1995. The party was established after the break-up of Civic Forum by the liberal wing of Civic Forum, while the conservative wing established the Civic Democratic Party.^[2] Foreign Minister Jiří Dienstbier was elected leader of the Civic Movement. The party participated in the 1992 legislative election but failed to reach the required 5% threshold and was left without parliamentary representation.

Civic Movement Občanské hnutí
Leader	Jiří Dienstbier
Founded	27 April 1991 (1991-04-27)
Dissolved	December 1995
Preceded by	Civic Forum
Merged into	Free Democrats – Liberal National Social Party
Ideology	Liberalism Social liberalism
Political position	Centre to centre-left[1]
European affiliation	ELDR (affiliate)
International affiliation	Liberal International
Politics of the Czech Republic Political parties Elections

The party then renamed itself as the Free Democrats (Svobodní demokraté, SD),^[3] modelled on the Free Democratic Party of Germany, as the party tried to position itself as a more clearcut liberal party.^[4] The party joined the Liberal International and was admitted as an affiliate to the European Liberal Democrats and Reformists (ELDR) in 1994.^[5]

In December 1995 the Free Democrats merged with the Liberal National Social Party (successor to the former bloc party Czechoslovak Socialist Party) and formed the Free Democrats – Liberal National Social Party (SD-LSNS), which was again, however, unsuccessful in the 1996 legislative election.^[6][7] Some former members of OH established the Party for the Open Society in 1998.

Election results

Chamber of Deputies

Year	Vote	Vote %	Seats	Place	Notes	Position
1990	...	...	44 / 200	1st	Split from Civic Forum in 1991	Majority Government
1992	297,406	4.6	0 / 200	9th		extra-parliamentary
1996	124,165	2.05	0 / 200	9th	as Free Democrats – Liberal National Social Party	extra-parliamentary