Parliament of the Czech Republic

The Parliament of the Czech Republic (Czech: Parlament České republiky) or just Parliament (Czech: Parlament) is the legislative branch of the Czech Republic. It meets in Malá Strana, Prague and is composed of 281 total members and Senators.

Parliament of the Czech Republic Parlament České republiky
Type
Type	Bicameral
Houses	Senate Chamber of Deputies
History
Founded	1 January 1993
Preceded by	• Czech National Council • Federal Assembly
Leadership
President of the Senate	Miloš Vystrčil, ODS since 20 January 2020
President of the Chamber of Deputies	Markéta Pekarová Adamová, TOP 09 since 10 November 2021
Structure
Seats	281 81 Senators 200 Deputies
Senate political groups	Government Support (60)   ODS and TOP 09 (30)[c]   Mayors and Independents (18)[h]   KDU-ČSL (12)[j] Opposition (21)   ANO (14) [k]   Senator 21 and Pirates (5)[l]   Non-attached (2)[m]
Chamber of Deputies political groups	Government (104)   ODS (34)   STAN (33)   KDU-ČSL (23)   TOP 09 (14) Supported by (1)   Non-attached (1) Opposition (95)   ANO (71)   SPD (20)   Pirates (4)
Elections
Senate voting system	Two-round system
Chamber of Deputies voting system	Proportional representation
Last Senate election	20-21 September and 27-28 September 2024
Last Chamber of Deputies election	8–9 October 2021
Meeting place
Wallenstein Palace, meeting place of the Senate
Thun Palace, meeting place of the Chamber of Deputies
Website
Senate Chamber of Deputies

It consists of two chambers, both elected in direct elections:

• the Upper House: Senate
• the Lower House: Chamber of Deputies

Art. 15 of the Constitution stipulates its name as the "Parliament".^[1] The Parliament exercises competences usual in parliamentary systems: it holds and passes bills, has the right to modify the Constitution, ratifies international agreements; if necessary, it declares war, approves presence of foreign military forces in the Czech Republic or a dispatch of Czech military forces abroad.

History

Session room of the Chamber of Deputies

The tradition of modern parliamentarianism in the Bohemian lands dates back to times of the Austrian Empire (and then Cisleithanian part of Austria-Hungary), where the Imperial Council (Reichsrat, Říšská rada) was created in 1861.

After proclamation of Czechoslovakia in 1918 its National Assembly (Národní shromáždění) undertook legislative duties both of the Imperial Council and State Diets (Bohemian, Moravian, Silesian).^[2] In 1938–39 and between 1948–89 there existed a parliament within non-democratic regimes (right-wing authoritarian or Communist regime, respectively). As a consequence of federalization of Czechoslovakia (1968), national councils of Czech and Slovak parts of the country were created.

The Chamber of Deputies keeps continuity with the Czech National Council (Česká národní rada), while the Senate was established in 1996 (with reference to the First Czechoslovak Republic one).

External links

• psp.cz Archived 2021-04-13 at the Wayback Machine (official site)

Notes

1. Tomáš Goláň was elected as non-partisan, nominated by SEN 21, shortly after the election he defected to and became a member of ODS.
2. Jaroslav Chalupský is non-partisan, nominated by Svobodní.
3. •   ODS (18)^[a]
   •   TOP 09 (7)
   •   Svobodní (1)^[b]
   •   Tábor 2020 (1)
   •   ProMOST (1)
   •   Independent (2)
4. Hana Žáková, Miroslav Balatka, Miroslav Plevný, Jan Sobotka, Pavel Karník, Helena Pešatová, and Karel Zitterbart are non-partisans, nominated by STAN.
5. David Smoljak is a member of STAN, nominated by a coalition of STAN, Pirates and TOP 09.
6. Jiří Vosecký is a member of SLK, nominated by STAN and SLK.
7. Zdeněk Linhart is non-partisan, nominated by STAN and SLK.
8. •   STAN (15)^[d][e]
   •   SLK (3) ^[f][g]
9. Miluše Horská, Josef Klement, and Lumír Kantor are non-partisans, nominated by KDU-ČSL.
10. •   KDU-ČSL (12)^[i]
11. •   ANO (12)
    •   SOCDEM (1)
    •   Přísaha (1)
12. •   SEN 21 (3)
    •   Pirates (1)
    •   RH (1)
13. •   NEZ (1)
    •   Independent (1)