Freedom and Direct Democracy

Not to be confused with Social Democratic Party of Germany, also abbreviated as SPD.

Freedom and Direct Democracy (Czech: Svoboda a přímá demokracie, SPD) is a political party in the Czech Republic.^[14] It is led by Tomio Okamura and it holds 20 seats in the Chamber of Deputies.

Freedom and Direct Democracy Svoboda a přímá demokracie
Abbreviation	SPD
Leader	Tomio Okamura
Deputy Leaders	Radim Fiala Ivan David Radek Rozvoral Radovan Vích
Founded	5 May 2015; 8 years ago (2015-05-05)
Split from	Dawn of Direct Democracy
Headquarters	Rytířská 6, Prague^[1]
Newspaper	Na vlastní oči^[2]
Youth wing	Mladí Espéďáci
Membership (2022)	10,682^[3]
Ideology	Right-wing populism^[4]^[5]^[6] Czech nationalism^[7]^[8] Direct democracy^[5] Fascism^[9]^[10] Anti-immigration^[4]^[11] Anti-Islam^[12] Hard Euroscepticism^[4]^[13]
Political position	Right-wing to far-right
European affiliation	Identity and Democracy Party
European Parliament group	Identity and Democracy
Colours	Blue
Chamber of Deputies	20 / 200
Senate	0 / 81
European Parliament	1 / 21
Regional councils	35 / 675
Governors of the regions	0 / 13
Local councils	492 / 62,300
Website
http://www.spd.cz/
Politics of the Czech Republic Political parties Elections

It has been described as right-wing^[15][16] or far-right^{[4][17][18][19]} on the political spectrum,^[20][21][22] and has also been described as a "parliamentary fascist party".^[9][10] The party expresses opposition to immigration^[11][23] and it is staunchly Eurosceptic,^[13] while in their political program they state their support for direct democracy.^[5]

At the end of 2022 the party had 10,682 members and is the fastest growing party in the country in terms of members.^[3]

History

The party was founded in May 2015 by Tomio Okamura and Radim Fiala when eight Members of Parliament split from the Dawn of Direct Democracy parliamentary group. As the party was newly-formed in that parliamentary term, these MPs sat as independents until the 2017 Czech legislative election. Following that election, the party now holds 22 seats in the Czech Chamber of Deputies.

Freedom and Direct Democracy is named after the European Parliament Eurosceptic political group Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy.^[24][25][26] The party has links with Marine Le Pen's National Front which is a member of the Europe of Nations and Freedom, a separate Eurosceptic political group in the European Parliament,^[27] and Marine Le Pen endorsed SPD before the 2017 Czech legislative election.^[28]

In December 2017, SPD hosted a conference of the Movement for a Europe of Nations and Freedom in Prague, with parties such as the French National Front, Dutch Party for Freedom, Freedom Party of Austria and Lega Nord of Italy.^[29]

In 2019, following the European Parliament elections, the SPD entered the European Parliament with two MEPs, who sit with the Identity and Democracy group.^[30]

In July 2020, SPD MP Tereza Hyťhová defected to become the third MP for the Tricolour Citizens' Movement.^[31]

During the 2021 Czech legislative election, the SPD finished fourth with 20 MPs.^[32]

On 25 February 2022,^[33] the party established its own think tank, the Institute of Freedom and Direct Democracy,^[34] focused on the "development of democracy, the rule of law, pluralism of opinions and the protection of fundamental human rights",^[35] with Josef Nerušil as its first Chairman.^[36]

On 14 September 2022 MEP Hynek Blaško left SPD due to disagreement with Okamura's leadership of the party.^[37]

Mladí Espéďáci

The party's youth wing, Mladí Espéďáci (English: Young SPD members; MES) was established in April 2021 via Facebook,^[38][39] with Martin Malášek as the first leader.^[39] Diana Chodžajanová, a former contestant in Česko hledá SuperStar, became one of the faces of MES, appearing in short clips to promote the organisation.^[40] In July 2022 the MES page was removed from Facebook.^[41]

Policies and ideology

On its website and policy brief, SPD refers to itself as "a patriotic and democratic movement" with a focus on political reform, law and order, direct democracy, entrepreneurship and national sovereignty. It also claims to seek support from ordinary working citizens, small business owners and middle class professionals. The party also wants to reduce state-surveillance, reform the Czech tax system, support internet freedom and encourage more citizen led participation in national politics.^[42] Political commentators have variously described the party as right-wing populist, nationalist and anti-immigration in its platform and rhetoric.^[11][23] The SPD has described itself as a national conservative party.^[43] In April 2023, a court ruled that a description of the party as "fascist" by the magazine Respekt was "in accordance with the requirement of proportionality", and the magazine did not thus need to apologise for using this description.^[9][10]

The party is opposed to Czech membership of the European Union and calls for the Czech Republic to leave the bloc. The party also wants to pursue a more restrictive immigration policy, particularly towards immigration from Islamic nations, and rejects multiculturalism. It is strongly opposed to illegal immigration and the EU's policy of migrant quotas. The party itself claims that it does not seek to promote hatred towards any race or culture, but argues for the protection of "Judeo-Christian" values^[44] and believes that migrant quotas will lead to the "Islamization" of Europe.^[45][46][47] The SPD has a pro-Israel stance on the Israel–Hamas war, with Okamura stating that it supports Israel on all major issues.^[48] Okamura has called for ending Czech military aid to Ukraine in the Russo-Ukrainian War and advocated peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.^[49]

Membership

Tomio Okamura often claims that SPD has a membership of thousands of members. In October 2017 he claimed that SPD has 7,000 members,^[50] and in November 2017 12,000 members.^{[citation needed]} Doubt has been cast on these figures, with the suggestion that Okamura often conflates numbers of supporters with actual members. It was reported in 2015 that SPD had only 20 members, compared to Okamura's claims of 10,000.^{[citation needed]} In February 2018 the party stated that it had 1,200 members.^[51] The party had 1,400 members in July 2018.^[52]

Election results

Presidential

Election	Candidate		First round result			Second round result
			Votes	%Votes	Result	Votes	%Votes	Result
2018		Supported Miloš Zeman	1,985,547	38.56	First place	2,853,390	51.37	Won
2023		Jaroslav Bašta	248,375	4.45	5th place

Chamber of Deputies

Year	Vote	Vote %	Seats	±	Place	Government
2015			8 / 200	Split from Dawn		opposition
2017	538,574	10.64	22 / 200	14	4th	opposition
2021	513,910	9.56	20 / 200	2	4th	opposition

Senate

Election	First round			Second round			Seats	Notes
	Votes	%	Places	Votes	%	Places
2016	5,988	0.68	20th				0 / 27
2018	759	3.34	7th				0 / 1	By-election in Trutnov district.
2018	697	4.09	8th				0 / 1	By-election in Zlín district. Lubomír Nečas was a SPO candidate supported by SPD.
2018	70,110	6.44	7th				0 / 27
2020	61,352	6.15	7th				0 / 27

Local election

Year	Vote	Vote %	Place	Seats
2018				155 / 61,892

European Parliament

Election	Votes	Share of votes in %	Seats obtained	Place
2019	216,718	9.14%	2 / 21	5th

Regional election

Year	Vote	Vote %	Seats	+/-	Place	Note
2016	153,099	5.7	18 / 675		6th	Participated in coalition with Party of Civic Rights
2020	169,978	6.1	35 / 675	17	5th

Prague municipal elections

Year	Leader	Vote	Vote %	Seats	+/−	Place	Position
2018	Hynek Beran	895,859	3.54%	0 / 65	0	6th

References

1. "Seznam politických stran a hnutí" (in Czech). Czech Ministry of the Interior.
2. "Tomio Okamura: První číslo nových novin SPD - Na vlastní oči". spd.cz (in Czech). 11 September 2017. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
3. Brodníčková, Karolina (27 June 2023). "Nejvíc přibylo členů SPD, padá ODS". Novinky.cz.
4. "European Election Watch Czech Republic". Center for Strategic and International Studies. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
5. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2017). "Czechia". Parties and Elections in Europe.
6. "Volební zisky evropské krajní pravice jsou zatím vyšší než české". Lidovky.cz (in Czech). 23 December 2016. Retrieved 16 September 2017.^{[dead link]}
7. . EuroZprávy.cz (in Czech). Archived from the original on 15 September 2017. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
8. Beran, Vojtěch (13 November 2016). "42 "vlasteneckých" a nacionalistických skupin v Česku". Echo24.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 15 September 2017.
9. https://www.respekt.cz/podcast/spd-lze-oznacit-za-parlamentni-fasisticke-hnuti-proc-soud-smetl-okamurovu-zalobu-na-respekt
10. https://romea.cz/en/czech-republic/czech-court-rules-it-is-proportionate-for-tomio-okamuras-freedom-and-direct-democracy-to-be-called-fascist-verdict-has-taken-effect
11. "Okamura registers new anti-immigrant party Freedom and Direct Democracy". Radio Prague. 16 June 2015. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
12. "Czech far-right leader Tomio Okamura urges citizens to walk pigs near mosques to defend country from Islam". 5 January 2015. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
13. Brack, Nathalie; Startin, Nicholas (2015). "Introduction: Euroscepticism, from the margins to the mainstream". International Political Science Review. 36 (3): 244. doi:10.1177/0192512115577231. ISSN 0192-5121. S2CID 145663358.
14. Fernando Casal Bertoa. "The Czech Republic finally has a new government: it has a prosecuted populist Prime Minister and is supported by the Communists". Who Governs Europe. Retrieved 2021-10-16.
15. "Czech President Calls EU 'Cowards' on Yerushalayim". Hamodia. 10 December 2017.
16. "New Czech PM Babiš prepares to talk migration, reforms at EU summit". Euractiv. 7 December 2017.
17. Muller, Robert; Lopatka, Jan (21 October 2017). "Far-right scores surprise success in Czech election". Reuters. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
18. Day, Matthew (19 October 2017). "Far-Right Czech election 'kingmaker' calls for referendum on EU membership 'just like Britain'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
19. Simecka, Michal (20 October 2017). "Babiš' Czech Republic: too thin a gruel?". openDemocracy. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
20. "Czech far right sets 'Czexit' referendum law as price for post-vote talks". Reuters. 2021-09-22. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
21. "What chance of a referendum on 'Czexit' after this weekend's election?". euronews.com. 2021-10-08. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
22. Mortkowitz, Siegfried; Bauerova, Ladka (2 May 2019). "Czech Republic at heart of fight for Europe". Politico.eu. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
23. Velinger, Jan (23 October 2017). "Okamura tells daily Freedom and Direct Democracy Party wants to be part of coalition government". Radio Prague. Retrieved 2021-10-16.
24. "» Rozhovor Tomia Okamury pro EuroZprávy.cz". Retrieved 25 May 2016.
25. "Okamura a Fiala skončili v hnutí Úsvit, zakládají novou stranu". 5 May 2015. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
26. . ceskatelevize.cz. Archived from the original on October 9, 2015.
27. Rychetský, Jan (12 December 2015). "Tomio Okamura svolal všechny své lidi a bylo rušno: Nepřátelští vetřelci! Pokus o vraždu. Delegace od Marine Le Pen i provolání k Zemanovi". Parlamentni Listy (in Czech). Retrieved 30 November 2023.
28. "Marine Le Pen supports Tomio Okamura, President of the SPD, member of the MENF". 19 October 2017 – via YouTube.
29. Willoughby, Ian (15 November 2017). "Le Pen to appear at December event with Okamura in Prague". Radio Prague. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
30. "Czechia sends representatives of populist ANO, neo-fascist SPD and Communists to European Parliament". intellinews.com. 2019-05-28. Retrieved 2021-02-02.
31. "Hyťhová opouští poslanecký klub SPD, bude spolupracovat s Trikolórou". iDNES.cz (in Czech). 27 July 2020. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
32. "Results". E15.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 2021-10-10.
33. "Institut svobody a přímé demokracie, z. ú. - IČO 14294982 - Obchodní rejstřík na Podnikatel.cz". Podnikatel.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 22 April 2022.
34. "SPD připravuje vlastní politický institut. Dostane na něj peníze od státu". seznamzpravy.cz (in Czech). January 2022. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
35. "SPD má vlastní politickou neziskovku. Chce s ní rozvíjet demokracii a podporovat "vlastence"". romea.cz (in Czech). 2 March 2022. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
36. "SPD má vlastní politickou neziskovku. Chce s ní rozvíjet demokracii a podporovat "vlastence"". HlídacíPes.org (in Czech). 1 March 2022. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
37. Pánik, Jan (15 September 2022). "Blaško odešel z SPD. Holedbáte se demokracií, ale realita je zcela odlišná, napsal Okamurovi". forum24.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 15 September 2022.
38. "Sexuální násilí, klimatické změny, bydlení. Mladí straníci řekli, co štve vrstevníky". Aktuálně.cz (in Czech). 22 September 2021. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
39. "Okamurovi mládežníci startují. Na sociálních sítích rychle rostou". Studentské listy (in Czech). 22 June 2021. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
40. "Kráska ze SuperStar natáčí klipy pro SPD. Stala se tváří jejich mládežnické organizace". Insta Zprávy (in Czech). 29 July 2021. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
41. "Vrchní cenzor Tomio Okamura najednou bojuje za svobodu slova". forum24.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 20 April 2022.
42. "Program". spd.cz (in Czech).
43. "Jak Okamurovo hnutí vnímají jeho politici? SPD chce být národně konzervativní, pravolevé dělení neřeší". 30 October 2023.
44. "Program". spd.cz (in Czech).
45. "Far-right leaders gather in Prague ahead of EU vote". Euractive. 25 April 2019. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
46. "In Prague, Europe's far-right celebrates the Austrian coalition". Euractive. 17 December 2017. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
47. "Far-right scores surprise success in Czech election". Reuters. 21 October 2017. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
48. "Jste blázen a odporný člověk, útočil Okamura na ministryni obrany kvůli Izraeli | Aktuálně.cz". 3 November 2023.
49. "Okamura označil Ukrajince za "nácky", válku podle něj ukončí Trump - Novinky". 8 April 2024.
50. "Okamura chce s SPD do vlády. Podmínkou je pro něj zákon o referendu". Euro.cz (in Czech). 6 October 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
51. "Nové straníky táhne do partají volební úspěch i propad". Novinky.cz (in Czech). 9 February 2018. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
52. "Okamura zítra obhajuje post šéfa SPD" (in Czech). Retrieved 14 July 2018 – via PressReader.

Further reading

• Hloušek, Vít; Kopeček, Lubomír; Vodová, Petra (2020). The Rise of Entrepreneurial Parties in European Politics. Springer Nature. ISBN 978-3-030-41916-5.

External links

• Official website