| Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic Senát Parlamentu České republiky |
|
|---|---|
| Type | |
| Type | Upper house |
| Leadership | |
| President | Milan Štěch, ČSSD since 24 November 2010 |
| Vice-President | Alena Gajdůšková, ČSSD |
| Vice-President | Přemysl Sobotka, ODS |
| Vice-President | Petr Pithart, KDU-ČSL |
| Vice-President | Alena Palečková, ODS |
| Vice-President | Zdeněk Škromach, ČSSD |
| Members | 81 |
| Political groups | ČSSD (41 seats) ODS (25 seats) KDU-ČSL (5 seats) KSČM (2 seats) TOP 09 (3 seats) other (5 seats) |
| Elections | |
| Voting system | Two-round system |
| Last election | 15–16 October 2010 22–23 October 2010 |
| Meeting place | |
| Wallenstein Palace, Prague | |
| Website | |
| www.senat.cz | |
| Czech Republic |
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The Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic (Czech: Senát Parlamentu České republiky), usually referred to as Senát, is the upper chamber of the Parliament of the Czech Republic. The seat of the Senate is Wallenstein Palace in Prague.
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The Senate has 81 members, elected for six years, every two years one third of them, in one-seat constituencies through two rounds majority system (the second round is between two candidates with highest number of votes from the first round – if no candidate obtains 50+% majority in the first round). A candidate for the Senate does not need to be on a political party's ticket (unlike the lower chamber).
The senate has one President and four Vice-Presidents.[1] Its members participate in specialised committees and commissions.[2][3]
The Senate Chancellery has been created to provide professional, organisational and technical services. The Senate occupies several historical palaces in centre of Prague, in Malá Strana quarter.[4] In 2005 its budget was 561.2 million CZK.
The Senate can delay a proposed law which was approved by the Chamber of Deputies but this veto can be overridden by an absolute majority (i.e. at least 101 of all 200 members) of the Chamber of Deputies in a repeated vote.
Senators have, together with MP's, the right to take part in election of the President of the Republic and the judges of the Constitutional Court, and may propose new laws. However, the Senate does not get to vote on the country budget and is not expected to supervise the executive directly, unlike the Chamber of Deputies.
The President (Speaker or Chairperson) of the Senate is the second-highest official of the Czech Republic for ceremonial purposes, after the President of the Republic, but without any real power.
The Senate was established in constitutional law of the Czech National Council (ČNR) No. 1/1993 on 16 December 1992.[5] The immediate reason for its creation was a need to find a place for members of the Federal Assembly, dissolved together with Czechoslovakia. Other reasons given were the positioning of the Senate as a safety device ("pojistka") correcting laws endorsed by lower chamber and as a power balancing tool against the dominance of a single party.
Due to opposition by the Civic Democratic Alliance (who had members in ČNR, the new lower chamber, but not in the Federal Assembly) and those politicians fearing dilution of power the Senate was not set up. The first elections were held in 1996, with voter turnout around 35% (much lower than turnout for the lower chamber). Further elections were held in 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006 with steadily decreasing turnout (the lowest ever was around 10%, in many constituencies below 20%).
The Senate has received criticism for being essentially powerless and unnecessary for a country of the size of the Czech Republic.
| Parties | First round | Second round | Seats Won |
Not Up |
Total Seats |
± | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Run-off | Votes | % | ||||||
| Czech Social Democratic Party | 290,090 | 25.28 | 22 | 299,526 | 44.02 | 12 | 29 | 41 | +12 | |
| Civic Democratic Party | 266,311 | 23.21 | 19 | 225,708 | 33.17 | 8 | 17 | 25 | –11 | |
| TOP 09 – Mayors and Independents | 165,277 | 14.40 | 5 | 51,310 | 7.54 | 2 | 3 | 5 | –4 | |
| Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party | 87,182 | 7.60 | 3 | 42,990 | 6.32 | 2 | 3 | 5 | +1 | |
| NorthBohemians.cz | 20,062 | 1.75 | 2 | 23,279 | 3.42 | 2 | 0 | 2 | +2 | |
| Independent candidates | 21,551 | 1.88 | 1 | 14,944 | 2.20 | 1[6] | 0 | 1 | +1 | |
| Public Affairs | 57,179 | 4.98 | 1 | 11,973 | 1.76 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Independents (NEZÁVISLÍ) | 10,739 | 0.94 | 1 | 10,707 | 1.57 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia | 117,374 | 10.23 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | –1 | |||
| Sovereignty – Jana Bobošíková Bloc | 40,295 | 3.51 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ±0 | |||
| Party of Civic Rights – Zemanovci | 17,195 | 1.50 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ±0 | |||
| Green Party | 10,473 | 0.91 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ±0 | |||
| Party of Free Citizens | 5,447 | 0.47 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ±0 | |||
| Democratic Green Party (Demokratická strana zelených) | 3,348 | 0.29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ±0 | |||
| Czech National Social Party | 1,791 | 0.16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ±0 | |||
| Czech National Socialist Party | 1,773 | 0.15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ±0 | |||
| Bohemian Crown | 828 | 0.07 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ±0 | |||
| Others | 30,475 | 2.66 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ±0 | |||
| Totals | 1,147,390 | 100.00 | 54 | 680,167 | 100.00 | 27 | 54 | 81 | — | |
| Party | Seats | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 2007 by | 2008 | 2010 | 2011 by | TOTAL | ||||
| Czech Social Democratic Party | 6 | — | 22 | 12 | 1 | 41 | |||
| Civic Democratic Party | 14 | — | 3 | 8 | — | 25 | |||
| TOP 09 – Mayors and Independents | 3 | — | — | 2 | — | 5 | |||
| Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party | 3 | — | — | 2 | — | 5 | |||
| Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia | — | 1 | 1 | — | — | 2 | |||
| NorthBohemians.cz | — | — | — | 2 | — | 2 | |||
| Independents | — | — | — | 1 | — | 1 | |||
| Total | 26 | 1 | 26 | 27 | 1 | 81 | |||
| Source: Senate Constituencies in which the election was held:
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Members of the Senate of the Czech Republic include these:
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