TOP 09

TOP 09
Leader Miroslav Kalousek
Founded 11 June 2009 (2009-06-11)
Split from KDU–ČSL[1]
Headquarters Michnův palác, Újezd 450/40, 118 00 Prague 1 – Malá Strana
Youth wing TOP Team
Membership (2017) 2,800[2]
Ideology Liberal conservatism[3]
Christian democracy[4]
Liberalism[5][6]
Pro-Europeanism
Political position Centre-right[7]
European affiliation European People's Party
European Parliament group European People's Party
Colours      Purple
Chamber of Deputies
20 / 200
Senate
2 / 81
European Parliament
4 / 21
Regional councils
19 / 675
Local councils
868 / 62,300
Website
www.top09.cz

TOP 09 (name derived from Tradice Odpovědnost Prosperita, meaning "Tradition Responsibility Prosperity"[8]) is a liberal-conservative[9][10] political party in the Czech Republic, led by the former Czech Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek. TOP 09 holds 26 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and has four MEPs.

History

The party was founded on 11 June 2009 by Miroslav Kalousek who left the Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party.[11] Karel Schwarzenberg, who had previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the second Topolánek cabinet from January 2007 to March 2009, having been nominated by the Green Party for the post, and who had been elected to the Senate in 2004 as nominee of the Freedom Union – Democratic Union (US-DEU) and Civic Democratic Alliance (ODA) parties, became the party's first leader.[12][13]

Logo used in 2009-2017.
Karel Schwarzenberg, Honorary chairman and former leader of TOP 09

In the 2010 parliament elections on 28–29 May 2010, TOP 09 received 16.7% of the vote and 41 seats, becoming the third largest party.[14] The party joined the new coalition government, the Nečas cabinet, with the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) and Public Affairs (VV).[15]

In September 2010 TOP09 applied to join the European People's Party. Karel Schwarzenberg has already officially participated in two EPP summits (15 September[16] and 16 December 2010[17]). On 10 February 2011 TOP 09 has officially been granted permission to join the EPP.[18]

In the 2013 legislative election on 25–26 October 2013, TOP 09 won 12% of the vote and 26 seats. The party entered opposition to the Sobotka cabinet.

In the 2014 European elections on 24 and 25 May 2014, TOP 09 receached second place nationally with 15.95% of the vote, electing 4 MEPs.

In March 2016, Karel Tureček left the party and joined ANO 2011 which left TOP 09 with 25 MPs.[19] In May 2016, Pavol Lukša, one of founders of TOP 09, left the party and established the new party Good Choice.[20]

TOP 09 was heavily defeated in 2016 regional elections. The party has gained only 19 seat and 3.4% of votes. Miroslav Kalousek then considered resignation but decided to stay.[21]

In January 2017, TOP 09 introduced its new program called Vision 2030. TOP 09 wants to adopt Euro, implement electronical voting and increase health standard to the level of Germany. TOP 09 also wants to shorten week work time to 4 days. Miroslav Kalousek said that he believes that TOP 09 will get over 10% in upcoming legislative election even though recent opinion polls indicated that TOP 09 might not reach 5% threshold.[22][23]

Ahead of 2017 parliamentary elections, TOP 09 was endorsed by The Czech Crown, Conservative Party, Club of Committed Non-Party Members and Liberal-Environmental Party.[24][25]

Ideology

TOP 09 has been noted for its support of fiscal conservatism and is considered pro-European Union,[26] being strongly in favour of European integration.[27] However it has been noted that some policy stances are national-conservative rather than strictly liberal.[28] On 12 July 2017, TOP 09 and Liberal-Environmental Party agreed to participate in the election together.[29]

Election results

Below are charts of the results that the TOP09 has secured in the Chamber of Deputies, Senate, European Parliament, and regional assemblies at each election.

Chamber of Deputies

Year Leader Vote Vote % Seats Place Govt?
2010 Karel Schwarzenberg 873,833 16.7
41 / 200
 3rd Yes
2013 Karel Schwarzenberg 596,357 Decrease 12.0 Decrease
26 / 200
 4th Decrease No
2017 Miroslav Kalousek

Senate

Election First round Second round Seats Notes
Votes % Places Votes % Places
2010 165,277 14.40 3rd 51,310 7.54 3rd
2 / 27
2011 2,053 7.51 4th  
0 / 1
 By-election in Kladno district.
2012 57,907 6.59 5th 9,918 1.93 5th
2 / 27
2014 92,137 8.98 5th 30,476 6.43 6th
0 / 27
2014 2,055 15.55 3rd  
0 / 1
 By-election in Prague 10 district
2016 70,653 8.02 6th 30,820 7.27 5th
2 / 27

Presidential

Election Candidate First round result Second round result
Votes %Votes Result Votes %Votes Result
2013 Karel Schwarzenberg 1,204,195 23.40 Runner-up 2,241,171 45.20 Lost
2018 Jiří Drahoš

European Parliament

Year Vote Vote % Seats Place
2014 241,747 16.0 Increase
4 / 22
 2nd

Local election

Year Vote Vote % Seats
2010 8,537,461 9.5
1,509 / 62,178
2014 8,324,195 8.4
726 / 62,300

Regional election

Year Vote Vote % Seats +/- Place
2012 175,089 6.6
44 / 675
 5th
2016 86,164 Decrease 3.4 Decrease
19 / 675
 Decrease 9th

Leaders

See also

References

  1. ↑ Zdenka Mansfeldová (2013). "The Czech Republic". In Sten Berglund; Joakim Ekman; Kevin Deegan-Krause; Terje Knutsen. The Handbook of Political Change in Eastern Europe. Edward Elgar Publishing. p. 232. ISBN 978-1-78254-588-0.
  2. ↑ "V TOP 09 se zvedají kritici Miroslava Kalouska. Chtějí, aby ještě před volbami odstoupil - Seznam Zprávy". www.seznam.cz. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  3. ↑ "Kalousek se střetl s Dolejšem, večerní škola liberalismu stála proti marxismu-leninismu". Novinky.cz. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
  4. ↑ "Křesťanská politika". Retrieved 25 May 2016.
  5. ↑ "TOP 09 opouštějí letité tváře, vadí jim liberální plány mladší generace". iDnes.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  6. ↑ "TOP 09 se dohodla na společné kandidátce s LES Martina Bursíka. Chtějí se poprat o liberální voliče". ihned.cz (in Czech). 12 July 2017. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  7. ↑ "Foreign Policy Centre: Articles and Briefings / Necas in a bind: The Eurozone fiscal compact and the Czech Republic". Retrieved 25 May 2016.
  8. ↑ Tom Lansford, ed. (2015). Political Handbook of the World 2015. SAGE Publications. p. 1660. ISBN 978-1-4833-7155-9.
  9. ↑ Maciej Stobinski (2014). "Twenty years of the Czech party system: 1992–2011". In Lucyna Czechowska; Krzysztof Olszewski. Central Europe on the Threshold of the 21st Century: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Challenges in Politics and Society. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 296. ISBN 978-1-4438-6483-1.
  10. ↑ Otto Eibl; Michal Pink (2016). "Election Results, Candidate Lists and the Framing of Campaigns". In Ruxandra Boicu; Silvia Branea; Adriana Stefanel. Political Communication and European Parliamentary Elections in Times of Crisis: Perspectives from Central and South-Eastern Europe. Palgrave Macmillan UK. p. 258. ISBN 978-1-137-58591-2.
  11. ↑ Klausmann, Alexandra (21 May 2010). "Tschechien: Jugend vereint gegen Linksparteien". Wiener Zeitung (in German).
  12. ↑ "Schwarzenberg to be Kalousek's Czech TOP 09 party leader". Czech News Agency. 11 June 2009.
  13. ↑ "Karel Schwarzenberg", TOP 09 party website, retrieved 7 June 2013
  14. ↑ "Official results of election to the Parliament of the Czech Republic 2010". Volby.cz. 29 May 2010. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
  15. ↑ Sten Berglund (2013). The Handbook of Political Change in Eastern Europe. Edward Elgar Publishing. pp. 231–232. ISBN 978-1-78254-588-0.
  16. ↑ administrator (16 September 2010). "EPP welcomes European Council conclusions; Roma issue should not be exploited". Epp.eu. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
  17. ↑ administrator. "EPP official website". Epp.eu. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
  18. ↑ "TOP 09 členem nejsilnější evropské strany – TOP 09". Top09.cz. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
  19. ↑ Kopecký, Josef (10 March 2016). "Turečka vyhodili z klubu TOP 09. Politika "Antibabiš" je mi cizí, říká". iDNES.cz. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  20. ↑ "TOP 09 leading politician Lukša establishes new party | Prague Monitor". www.praguemonitor.com. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  21. ↑ televize, Česká. "Kalousek chce vědět, zda má pokračovat. Jeho TOP 09 ve volbách pohořela". ČT24. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
  22. ↑ "Třináctiletka TOP 09 počítá s internetovými volbami i zavedením eura". Novinky.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 29 January 2017.
  23. ↑ "TOP 09 slibuje životní úroveň jako v Německu do 2030 a boj za střední třídu". iDNES.cz. 28 January 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
  24. ↑ Novotný, Svatopluk. "SPOLEČNÉ TISKOVÉ PROHLÁŠENÍ politických subjektů: Koruna Česká (monarchistická strana Čech, Moravy a Slezska), Konzervativní strana a Klub angažovaných nestraníků - Koruna Česká - monarchistická strana Čech, Moravy a Slezska". www.korunaceska.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  25. ↑ "Konzervativní strana: Viribus Unitis". www.konzervativnistrana.cz. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  26. ↑ Dan Marek; Michael Baun (2010). The Czech Republic and the European Union. Routledge. p. 45. ISBN 978-1-136-94098-9.
  27. ↑ Michal Klima (2015). "Czech Republic". In Donatella M. Viola. Routledge Handbook of European Elections. Routledge. p. 554. ISBN 978-1-317-50363-7.
  28. ↑ Elisabeth Bakke (2011). "The Czech Party System 20 Years after the Velvet Revolution". In Elisabeth Bakke; Ingo Peters. 20 Years since the Fall of the Berlin Wall: Transitions, State Break-Up and Democratic Politics in Central Europe and Germany. BWV Verlag. p. 244. ISBN 978-3-8305-2702-2.
  29. ↑ "TOP 09 a Bursíkova LES se dohodly na spolupráci pro volby. Vytvoří společnou kandidátku". Lidovky.cz. 12 July 2017. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
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