Civic Democratic Party (Czech Republic)

The Civic Democratic Party (Czech: Občanská demokratická strana), abbreviated to ODS, is the largest conservative political party in the Czech Republic. It holds 53 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, making it the second-largest party. Civic Democratic Party has been in government since 2006: with TOP 09 and Public Affairs, with leader Petr Nečas as Prime Minister, since June 2010.

The ODS is liberal conservative,^[2][6][7] and is notably Eurosceptic.^[8] It is modelled on the British Conservative Party,^[9][10] with whom the Civic Democrats ally through the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists and ECR group. Internationally, it is aligned with the International Democratic Union.

The party was founded by Václav Klaus in 1991 as the pro-free market wing of the Civic Forum. The party won the 1992 election, and has remained in government for most of the Czech Republic's independence. Then-leader Mirek Topolánek served as Prime Minister from 2006 to 2009. It is currently led by Petr Nečas, who succeeded Topolánek in 2010. In the 2010 election, the party lost 28 seats, finishing second, but as the largest party right of the centre, it formed a centre-right government with Nečas as Prime Minister.

History

Formation

The party was founded in 1991 as one of two successors to the Civic Forum. The ODS represented followers of Václav Klaus, and was pro-free market, as opposed to the centrist Civic Movement. An agreement was reached to split the party into two at the Civic Forum Assembly on 23 February 1991. This was followed on 21 April by a formal declaration of a new party, and Klaus was elected its first President.^[11] The party agreed to continue in coalition in the Czech government with the Civic Movement, but this collapsed in July 1991.

The Civic Democrats, who represented demands for a tighter Czechoslovak federation, began to organise in Slovakia.^[12] Ahead of the 1992 election, the ODS ruled out an electoral alliance with the Liberal Democrats, but agreed to an alliance with Václav Benda's Christian Democratic Party (KDS) in order to boost its appeal to conservatives.^[12] The ODS won the election, winning 66 seats (and the KDS another ten), and formed a centre-right coalition with the Civic Democratic Alliance (ODA) and the KDU-ČSL, with Klaus as Prime Minister.^[13]

Dominant party

It was the dominant party in two coalition governments in the Czech Republic in 1992–1997, a majority administration (1992–96) and a short-lived minority government (1996–97).

On 2 June 1995, the ODS and KDS signed a merger agreement, which would come into effect on 18 March 1996, ahead of that year's election. However, at the election, whilst the ODS improved to 68 seats, its allies fell, leading to the government receiving only 99 seats: two short of a majority. Klaus continued with a minority government, relying on its acceptance by the Social Democratic Party (ČSSD).

In December 1997, allegations of the party receiving illegal donations and maintaining a secret slush fund caused the ODA and KDU-ČSL to withdraw from the coalition, and the government collapsed. Josef Tošovský was appointed caretaker, pending new elections in June 1998. Despite the scandal, Klaus was re-elected party chairman, and in January 1998, some legislators opposed to Klaus, led by Jan Ruml and Ivan Pilip, left the party in the so-called 'Sarajevo Assassination' and formed the Freedom Union (US).^[14]

Opposition

At the elections, the ODS fell even further, to 63 seats, while the US won 19. Due to the split, the Freedom Union refused to support the ODS, preventing them from getting a majority, the US's executive also refused to support the ČSSD. As a result, on 9 July 1998, the ODS signed the Opposition Agreement, which pledged the party to provide confidence and maintain a ČSSD government under Miloš Zeman.^[15] This agreement was then superseded by the more explicit 'Patent of Tolerance' in January 2000.^[16]

In the 2002 parliamentary elections, it went from being the largest seat holder to being the second largest party in the Chamber of Deputies with 58 of 200 seats, and for the first time in its history, assumed the role of a true opposition party. Mirek Topolánek took over the party leadership. The current Czech president, Václav Klaus, has been party's honorary president for his first term in the office. In the European Parliament elections in June 2004 and in Senate and regional assembly elections in November 2004 it received over 30% of the votes.

Back in government

In the 2006 elections it was the largest seat holder in the Chamber of Deputies with 81 seats. It formed a government in coalition with the Christian Democrats (KDU-ČSL) and the Green Party (SZ). The party suffered heavy losses in regional and Senate elections in 2008, losing all 12 regional governorships it had previously held.

Ideology

Main ideologies of the party are: modern European Conservatism, economic liberalism, and Euroscepticism. Party's ideas are very close to those of the British Conservative Party, Swedish Moderate Party, and other European liberal-conservative parties.

The basic principles of the party's program are "low taxes, public finances and future without debts, support for families with children, addressable social system, reducing bureaucracy, better conditions for business, a safe state with the transatlantic links. No tricks and populism."

In July 2006, the Civic Democratic Party signed an agreement with the British Conservative Party to leave the EPP-ED Group and form a new European political party called MER (Movement for European Reform) in 2009. On 22 June 2009, it was announced that ODS would join the newly-formed European Conservatives and Reformists, an anti-federalist bloc working for reform rather than abolition of the European Parliament and currently its fourth largest bloc.

Election results

Below are charts of the results that the Civic Democratic Party has secured in the Chamber of Deputies, Senate, and European Parliament at each election.

Chamber of Deputies

Senate

• 1996 Senate: 29 seats (whole Senate elected, only one third in subsequent elections)
• 1998 Senate: 9 seats
• 2000 Senate: 8 seat
• 2002 Senate: 9 seats
• 2004 Senate: 18 seats
• 2006 Senate: 14 seats
• 2008 Senate: 3 seats
• 2010 Senate: 8 seats

European Parliament

Leaders

• Václav Klaus 1991 – 2002
• Mirek Topolanek 2002 – 2010
• Petr Nečas since 2010

Footnotes

References

• Hanley, Sean (2008). The New Right in the New Europe: Czech transformation and right-wing politics, 1989–2006. London: Routledge. ISBN 9780415341356. 

External links

• ODS official website