KDU-ČSL
KDU-ČSL (In Czech, the initials of the Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party;[12] Czech: Křesťanská a demokratická unie – Československá strana lidová), often shortened to lidovci ('the populars') is a Christian-democratic[2][3] political party in the Czech Republic. The party has taken part in almost every Czech government since 1990. In the June 2006 legislative election, the party won 7.2% of the vote and 13 out of 200 seats; but in the 2010 election, its vote share dropped to 4.4% and they lost all of its seats. The party regained its parliamentary standing in the 2013 legislative election, winning 14 seats in the new parliament,[13] thereby becoming the first party ever to return to the Chamber of Deputies after previously dropping out.
History
Towards the end of the 19th century Roman Catholics in Bohemia and Moravia joined political movements inside Cisleithanian Austria-Hungary. The Christian-Social Party was set up in September 1894 in Litomyšl, and the Catholic National Party in Moravia was set up in September 1896 in Přerov.
Československá strana lidová (ČSL) was created in January 1919 in Prague, reuniting other Catholic parties, and Jan Šrámek was selected as its chairman. In 1921, ČSL entered the government of Czechoslovakia, and was subsequently part of governing coalitions regardless of political changes.
After the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, Šrámek served as head of Czechoslovak government in exile (in the United Kingdom). After 1945, ČSL was part of the national unity government, forming its most right-wing section.[14] When the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia took over all power in February 1948, many ČSL officials were imprisoned. The party lost any real influence and was kept as a de facto puppet of Moscow-aligned communists (see National Front). In turn, it was allowed to keep a token presence of ČSL in government until 1989.
After the Velvet Revolution in 1989 ČSL attempted to shed its compromised figures and policies of the past: this included a change of name in 1992 after the merger with the Christian and Democratic Union (which was a post-revolution attempt at more modern political Catholicism trying to emulate the German CDU, but lacking the strength of its traditional counterpart). KDU-ČSL was part of the governments of Václav Klaus's Civic Democratic Party (ODS) until its ministers left in autumn 1997 which triggered the government's fall; KDU-ČSL was also represented in the caretaker government of Josef Tošovský before the premature elections in 1998.
In June 2002 KDU–ČSL went into the elections on a joint ballot with the Freedom Union–Democratic Union (US–DEU) as the "Two-Coalition", which was the last remnant of an unsuccessful attempt to unite them with three smaller parties into the "Four-Coalition" which would provide an alternative to the practices of the "opposition agreement" of ODS and Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD). However it turned out that the KDU–ČSL's traditional voters identified much more strongly with their original party than the whole, unlike US–DEU's liberal city ones, and using preferential votes on evenly split ballots caused that KDU–ČSL gained 22 MPs to US–DEU's 9 even though both parties were of roughly equal strength. They entered the government again by forming a coalition with the winning Czech Social Democratic Party.
In 2003 Miroslav Kalousek was elected chairman; unlike his predecessor Cyril Svoboda he represents the right wing of KDU–ČSL favouring cooperation with ODS, which was a source of tension within the coalition. He refused to enter the government both after his election and the government's reconstruction after PM Vladimír Špidla's resignation, and finally on 19 February 2005 asked for the resignation of PM Stanislav Gross after his finance scandal broke out. Gross retaliated by threatening to remove KDU–ČSL from his cabinet; a government crisis ensued.
After the 2006 legislative elections and lengthy negotiations caused by stalemated result, the KDU–ČSL formed a government together with the ODS and the Green Party (SZ).
Cyril Svoboda became the party chairman on 30 May 2009. In reaction to his election, his predecessor Miroslav Kalousek led a split from the party to form TOP 09, as he considered Svoboda to be too far on the left wing of the party. In the 2010 Chamber of Deputies election, the party's vote dropped to 4.39%, and they lost every one of their seats to other parties. Svoboda resigned as a consequence of the results. In November Pavel Bělobrádek was elected on his stead. The Party returned to the Parliament after 2013 election, becoming the so far only party in the history of Czech republic to achieve a return after defeat in elections. On 12 April 2017, KDU-ČSL signed an agreement with STAN to participate in 2017 legislative election as a coalition. Coalition needed to get more 10% of votes get over threshold.[15] The coalition disintegrated before the election,[16] thus the party went into the elections standalone, receiving 5.8% of votes.
In March 2019 the party was officially renamed to KDU-ČSL, its common abbreviation and Marek Výborný became a new party leader.[17] After the death of his wife announced Marek Výborný in November 2019 his resignation for personal reasons.[18]
Tomáš Zdechovský, Jan Bartošek and Marian Jurečka decided then to run for party leader.
Current situation
KDU–ČSL has a relatively small but stable core voter base of about 6 to 10 percent of the population. It is strongest in the traditionally Catholic rural areas in Moravia. Historically, it was a mass party with about 50,000 members (second after the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia), however today most of them are of old age. Efforts to recruit new voters have been largely unsuccessful, with party membership continuing to decline. Nevertheless, KDU–ČSL has managed to take advantage of the fragmented Czech political party system and make itself a necessary part of any coalition, whether the winning party be left- or right-wing.
In the European Union, KDU–ČSL is a member of the European People's Party (EPP).
Internal Structure
Membership
KDU-ČSL had 27,662 Members in 2015 which is the second largest member base of any party in the Czech Republic. The number is decreasing 1990s when the party had 100,000 Members, It is caused by high average age of members.[19]
| 1991 | 1992 | 1999 | 2008 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 95,435 | 88,000 | 60,000 | 40,000[20] | 33,000 | 29,976 | 28,541 | 27,662[21] | 26,420[22] | 21,870 |
Party strongholds
KDU-ČSL is known to have very strong electoral core concentrated primarily in South Moravia. The party has very stable electoral support thanks to the rural voters in Moravia and has managed to gain seats in Chamber of Deputies during every election cycle in Czech since 1990 with the exception of 2010[23]
Partners
Notable partners and suborganisations of the KDU-ČSL are:
- Young Populars - youth organisation
- KDU-ČSL Women Association - women's wing
- Institute for Christian Democratic Politics - think-tank
- Economic and entrepreneurial union of KDU-ČSL - entrepreneurs' wing
- European Academy for Democracy - think-tank.
- Institute of Political and Economical Studies - think-tank
- European People's Party - European party
- Centrist Democrat International - political international
Leaders
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Symbols
The party's patron saint is Saint Wenceslaus, with Saint Wenceslas Chorale being played at party congresses. Members customarily address each other as brothers and sisters.
KDU-ČSL has had many symbols through history, with the current logo depicting a Christian cross on a linden leaf.[24]
Logos
Party symbol, 1930's
Party logo, 1945–1992
Party logo, 1992–2006
Party logo, 2006–2012
Current logo, since 2012
Name of the party over time
- 1919–1992 The Czechoslovak People's Party (Československá strana lidová) – merger of Moravian-Silesian Christian Social Party in Moravia, Catholic-National Conservative Party in Moravia, Czech Christian Social Party in the Kingdom of Bohemia and Catholic-National Conservative Party in Bohemia, Conservative People's Party.
- 1992–2019 The Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party (Křesťanská a demokratická unie – Československá strana lidová)
- Since 2019 KDU-ČSL - after renaming to party' abbreviation.
Election results
Czechoslovakia wide elections
Legislative elections
| Date | Leader | Votes | Seats | Position | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | ± | Size | |||
| 1920 | Collective leadership | 699,728 | 11.3 | 33 / 281 | 33 | 2nd | Opposition |
| 1925 | Jan Šrámek | 691,238 | 9.7 | 31 / 300 | 2 | 3rd | Coalition |
| 1929 | Jan Šrámek | 623,340 | 8.4 | 25 / 300 | 6 | 5th | Coalition |
| 1935 | Jan Šrámek | 615,804 | 7.5 | 22 / 300 | 3 | 6th | Coalition |
| 1946 | Jan Šrámek | 1,111,009 | 15.7 | 46 / 300 | 24 | 3rd | Coalition |
| 1948 | as part of National Front | 23 / 300 | 23 | 4th | Bloc | ||
| 1954 | 20 / 368 | 3 | 3rd | Bloc | |||
| 1960 | 16 / 300 | 4 | 4th | Bloc | |||
| 1964 | 20 / 300 | 4 | 4th | Bloc | |||
| 1971 | 8 / 200 | 12 | 4th | Bloc | |||
| 1976 | 11 / 200 | 3 | 4th | Bloc | |||
| 1981 | 13 / 200 | 2 | 3rd | Bloc | |||
| 1986 | 11 / 200 | 2 | 4th | Bloc | |||
| 1990 | Josef Bartončík | 629,359 | 5.9 | 9 / 150 | 2 | 5th | Coalition |
| 1992 | Josef Lux | 388,122 | 4.0 | 7 / 150 | 2 | 7th | Coalition |
Devolved assembly elections
Czech assembly elections
| Date | Leader | Votes | Seats | Position | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | ± | Size | |||
| 1968 | as part of National Front | 16 / 200 | 16 | 3rd | Bloc | ||
| 1971 | 15 / 200 | 1 | 2nd | Bloc | |||
| 1976 | 12 / 200 | 3 | 3rd | Bloc | |||
| 1981 | 14 / 200 | 2 | 2nd | Bloc | |||
| 1986 | 14 / 200 | 0 | 2nd | Bloc | |||
| 1990 | Josef Bartončík | 607,134 | 8.42 | 20 / 200 | 6 | 4th | Coalition |
| 1992 | Josef Lux | 406,341 | 6.28 | 15 / 200 | 5 | 5th | Coalition |
Slovak assembly elections
| Date | Leader | Votes | Seats | Position | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | ± | Size | |||
| 1928 | Martin Mičura | 43,689 | 3.31 | 2 / 54 | 2 | 8th | – |
| 1935 | Martin Mičura | – | 3.0 | 1 / 54 | 1 | 8th | – |
Czech Republic wide elections
Legislative elections
| Date | Leader | Votes | Seats | Position | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | ± | Size | |||
| 1996 | Josef Lux | 489,349 | 8.08 | 18 / 200 | 3 | 4th | ODS–KDU-ČSL–ODA |
| 1998 | Josef Lux | 537,013 | 8.99 | 20 / 200 | 2 | 4th | Opposition |
| 2002 | Cyril Svoboda | 680,670 | 14.27 | 22 / 200 | 11 | 4th | ČSSD–KDU-ČSL–US-DEU |
| Part of Coalition, which won 31 seats in total | |||||||
| 2006 | Miroslav Kalousek | 386,706 | 7.23 | 13 / 200 | 18 | 4th | ODS–KDU-ČSL–SZ |
| 2010 | Cyril Svoboda | 229,717 | 4.39 | 0 / 200 | 13 | 6th | No seats |
| 2013 | Pavel Bělobrádek | 336.970 | 6.78 | 14 / 200 | 14 | 7th | ČSSD–ANO–KDU-ČSL |
| 2017 | Pavel Bělobrádek | 293,643 | 5.80 | 10 / 200 | 4 | 7th | Opposition |
| 2021 | Marian Jurečka | 1,493,701 | 27.79 | 23 / 200 | 13 | 2nd | SPOLU – PirStan |
| Part of SPOLU coalition, which won 71 seats in total | |||||||
Senate elections
| Election | First round | Second round | Seats gained | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Places* | Votes | % | Places* | ||
| 1996** | 274,316 | 9.9 | 4th | 247,819 | 10.7 | 3rd | 13 / 81 |
| 1998*** | 255,785 | 26.6 | 2nd | 166,483 | 31.0 | 2nd | 5 / 27 |
| 2000 | 121,355 | 14.1 | 4th | 137,515 | 24.4 | 2nd | 8 / 27 |
| 2002 | 58,858 | 8.8 | 4th | 47,049 | 5.7 | 4th | 1 / 27 |
| 2004 | 97,956 | 13.5 | 3rd | 54,501 | 11.4 | 3rd | 3 / 27 |
| 2006 | 125,388 | 11.8 | 4th | 59,603 | 10.4 | 3rd | 4 / 27 |
| 2008 | 82,870 | 7.9 | - | 42,225 | 5.13 | - | 0 / 27 |
| 2010 | 87,182 | 7.6 | 4th | 42,990 | 6.32 | 4th | 2 / 27 |
| 2012 | 61,006 | 6.94 | 4th | 14,995 | 2.92 | 4th | 1 / 27 |
| 2014 | 84,328 | 8.21 | 5th | 77,103 | 16.27 | 2nd | 4 / 27 |
| 2016 | 74,709 | 8.48 | 5th | 78,448 | 18.50 | 2nd | 6 / 27 |
| 2018 | 99,383 | 9.12 | 4th | 34,833 | 8.33 | 5th | 2 / 27 |
| 2020 | 82,814 | 8.30 | 4th | 65,397 | 14.47 | 3rd | 3 / 27 |
* Places are by number of votes gained.
** The whole Senate was elected. Only one third of Senate was elected in all subsequent elections.
***Participated as Part of Four-Coalition
Presidential
| Indirect Election | Candidate | First round result | Second round result | Third round result | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | %Votes | Result | Votes | %Votes | Result | Votes | %Votes | Result | |||
| 1993 | Václav Havel | 109 | 63.37 | Won | — | ||||||
| 1998 | Václav Havel | 130 | 70.65 | Runner-up | 146 | 52.3 | Won | — | |||
| 2003 | (Petr Pithart) | 128 | 46.55 | Runner-up | 129 | 48.13 | Runner-up | 124 | 46.6 | Lost | |
| 2008 | Václav Klaus[25] | 141 | 50.90 | Runner-up | 141 | 52.81 | Runner-up | 141 | 55.95 | Won | |
| Direct Election | Candidate | First round result | Second round result | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | %Votes | Result | Votes | %Votes | Result | |||
| 2013 | Zuzana Roithová | 255,045 | 4.95 | 6th | supported Karel Schwarzenberg | |||
| 2018 | Jiří Drahoš | 1,369,601 | 26.60 | Runner-up | 2,701,206 | 48.63 | Lost | |
| 2023 | Pavel Fischer, Petr Pavel, Danuše Nerudová | |||||||
European Parliament
| Election | Votes | Share of votes in % | Seats obtained | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
223,383 | 9.57 | 2 / 24 | 4th | |
180,451 | 7.64 | 2 / 22 | 4th | |
150,792 | 9.95 | 3 / 21 | 5th | |
171,723 | 7.24 | 2 / 21 | 6th |
Local elections
| Year | Vote | Vote % | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 8,845,562 | 11,5 | 8,083 |
| 1994 | 9,260,542 | 7.23 | 7,616 |
| 1998 | 7,206,346 | 11.18 | 7,119 |
| 2002 | 7,728,402 | 9.58 | 6,013 |
| 2006 | 6,263,980 | 5.76 | 5,049 |
| 2010 | 4,938,960 | 5.47 | 3,738 |
| 2014 | 4,865,956 | 4.91 | 3,792 |
| 2018 | 5,599,336 | 5.02 | 3,633 |
Regional elections
| Year | Vote | Vote % | Seats | Places |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 537,012 | 22.86 | 72 / 675 | 2nd |
| 2004 | 226,016 | 10.67 | 84 / 675 | 4th |
| 2008 | 193,911 | 6.65 | 56 / 675 | 4th |
| 2012 | 261,724 | 9.87 | 61 / 675 | 4th |
| 2016 | 159,610 | 6.30 | 61 / 675 | 5th |
| 2020 | 252,598 | 9.12 | 53 / 675 | 5th |
2020 Czech regional election results[26]
| Region | Coalition partner | # of overall votes | % of overall vote | Seats | Governance[27] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | ± | Position | |||||
| Central Bohemian | STAN | 92,903 | 22.21 | 2 / 65 | 2 | 5th | STAN–ODS–Pirates–TOP 09+Greens-Voice |
| South Bohemian | TOP 09 | 20,798 | 10.45 | 4 / 55 | 6th | ODS–KDU-ČSL+TOP 09–ČSSD–JIH12 | |
| Plzeň | ADS and Non-Partisians | 7,588 | 4.36 | — | 2 | 11th | ODS+TOP 09–STAN–Pirates |
| Karlovy Vary | ODS | 5,870 | 7.35 | 2 / 45 | 1 | 8th | STAN+TOP 09-Pirates-ODS+KDU ČSL-Local movements |
| Ústí nad Labem | ODS | 24,739 | 12.37 | 1 / 55 | 1 | 8th | ANO–ODS–TOP 09+Greens |
| Liberec | TOP 09 | 5,328 | 3.83 | — | 7th | Mayors for Liberec Region–Pirates–ODS | |
| Hradec Králové | VPM and Non-Partisians | 14,738 | 8.32 | 4 / 45 | 5th | ODS+STAN+VČ–KDU-ČSL–Pirates–TOP 09+HDK | |
| Pardubice | SNK-ED and Non-Partisians | 22,280 | 13.41 | 4 / 45 | 1 | 5th | ČSSD–ODS+TOP 09–KDU-ČSL–STAN |
| Vysočina | — | 19,082 | 11.96 | 6 / 45 | 1 | 3rd | ODS+STO–Pirates–KDU-ČSL–ČSSD–STAN |
| South Moravian | — | 56,423 | 15.54 | 11 / 65 | 2nd | KDU-ČSL–Pirates–ODS–STAN | |
| Olomouc | TOP 09 and Greens | 34,519 | 18.43 | 6 / 55 | 1 | 4th | STAN+Pirates–KDU-ČSL+TOP 09–ODS |
| Zlín | — | 35,782 | 18.62 | 9 / 45 | 3 | 2nd | ANO–Pirates–ODS–ČSSD |
| Moravian-Silesian | — | 30,190 | 9.57 | 7 / 65 | 1 | 4th | ANO–ODS+TOP 09–KDU-ČSL–ČSSD |
Further reading
- Brenner, Christiane (2004). Michael Gehler; Wolfram Kaiser (eds.). A Missed Opportunity to Oppose State Socialism?: The People's Party in Chechoslavakia. Christian Democracy in Europe since 1945. Routledge. pp. 151–168. ISBN 0-7146-5662-3.
- Suppan, Arnold (2004). Catholic People's Parties in East Central Europe: The Bohemian Lands and Slovakia. Political Catholicism in Europe 1918-1945. Vol. 1. Routledge. pp. 178–192.
Notes
References
- ^ televize, Česká. "Členská základna ODS je větší než ČSSD, z mladých uskupení nejvíce roste SPD". ČT24 - Nejdůvěryhodnější zpravodajský web v ČR - Česká televize (in Czech). Retrieved 30 November 2021.
- ^ a b Nordsieck, Wolfram (2017). "Czechia". Parties and Elections in Europe.
- ^ a b José Magone (2010). Contemporary European Politics: A Comparative Introduction. Routledge. p. 456. ISBN 978-0-203-84639-1.
- ^ Terry, Chris (20 February 2014). . The Democratic Society. Archived from the original on 27 June 2018.
- ^ "Czech KDU-CSL congress re-elects Belobradek party chairman". České Noviny. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
- ^ "Evropa je prostorem společných hodnot". kdu.cz (in Czech). 10 December 2015. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
- ^ "Pavel Bělobrádek: Některé Čunkovy výroky o EU mohou být důsledkem nedostatku informací, možná i vzdělání" (in Czech). 23 April 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
- ^ "Q&A: Czech election". BBC News. 4 June 2006.
- ^ "KDU-ČSL - Staňte se členem".
- ^ "Středopravicová-konzervativní strana tu už existuje, říká Šojdrová. Je to KDU-ČSL!". KDU.cz. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
- ^ Government Formation in Central and Eastern Europe: The Case of Minority Governments. Page 105. Author - Dorothea Keudel-Kaiser. Published December 2014. Published by Budrich UniPress Ltd. in Berlin, Germany. Retrieved 24 August 2019 via Google Books.
- ^ "KDU-ČSL - Stanovy".
- ^ Velinger, Jan (26 October 2013). "Social Democrats win election but result is poorer than expected". Radio Prague. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
- ^ Rüdiger Alte (2003). Die Auenpolitik der Tschechoslowakei und die Entwicklung der internationalen Beziehungen 1946-1947. Oldenbourg Verlag. p. 45. ISBN 978-3-486-56617-8.
- ^ televize, Česká. "Lidovci a Starostové podepsali koaliční smlouvu, za premiéra chtějí Bělobrádka". ČT24 (in Czech). Retrieved 12 April 2017.
- ^ "Koalice nebude. Vedení KDU-ČSL vyzvalo STAN, ať vstoupí na jejich kandidátky". Lidovky.cz (in Czech). 18 July 2017. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
- ^ "Lidovci zvolili vedení a upravili název strany na zkratku KDU-ČSL". www.ceskenoviny.cz (in Czech). ČeskéNoviny.cz. 30 March 2019. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
- ^ Kenety, Brian (18 November 2019). "CHRISTIAN DEMOCRAT LEADER MAY RESIGN IN WAKE OF WIFE'S DEATH". Radio.cz. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
- ^ Martínek, Jan. "Stranám utíkají i vymírají členové po tisících". Novinky.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 1 July 2016.
- ^ "Členům KSČM je v průměru 70 let, zjistila si strana". Novinky.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 20 January 2017.
- ^ "Stranám utíkají i vymírají členové po tisících". Novinky.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 20 January 2017.
- ^ "Základny tradičních politických stran klesají, mnohé partaje proto sbírají registrované příznivce | EuroZprávy.cz". Retrieved 20 January 2017.
- ^ "Sjezd KDU-ČSL rozhoduje o budoucnosti Čunka i celé strany". iDNES.cz. 30 May 2009. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
- ^ https://www.kdu.cz/getmedia/753ba290-b80c-4c01-a6f9-611b5bf8effe/KDU_manual_2012.aspx[bare URL PDF]
- ^ Šídlo, Jindřich (15 January 2008). "Lidovci jsou pro Klause". Hospodářské noviny (in Czech). Retrieved 16 January 2017.
- ^ Czech Statistical Office
- ^ Aktualne.cz