Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party

Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party
Křesťanská a demokratická unie – Československá strana lidová
Leader Pavel Bělobrádek
Founded 1919
Headquarters Prague 2, Palác Charitas
Newspaper New Voice
Think tank Institute of Political and
Economical Studies
Youth wing Young Christian Democrats
Young Populars
Women's wing KDU-ČSL Women Association
Membership 27,662[1]
Ideology Christian democracy[2]
Social conservatism[3][4]
Regionalism[2]
Centrism[5][6]
Eurofederalism[7][8]
Political position Centre[9] to centre-right[10][11][12]
European affiliation European People's Party
International affiliation Centrist Democrat International
European Parliament group European People's Party
Colors      Yellow
Chamber of Deputies
14 / 200
Senate
10 / 81
European Parliament
3 / 21
Regional councils
42 / 675
Local councils
4,066 / 62,178
Website
www.kdu.cz
Logo used in the 90's

The Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party (Czech: Křesťanská a demokratická unie – Československá strana lidová, KDU–ČSL, often shortened to lidovci ('the populars') is a Christian-democratic[13] political party in the Czech Republic. The party took part in almost every Czech Government since 1990. In the June 2006 election, the party won 7.2% of the vote and 13 out of 200 seats; but in the 2010 election, this dropped to 4.4% and they lost all their seats. The party regained its parliamentary standing in the 2013 legislative election winning 14 seats in the new parliament[14] and thereby becoming the first party ever to return to the Chamber of Deputies after being dropped 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.[15] 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 Democratic Union movement (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.

Current situation

KDU–ČSL has relatively low but stable support of voters (6–10%); it is strongest in the traditionally Catholic rural areas in Moravia. Historically, it is a mass party with about 50,000 members (second after the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia); most of them are of old age, however, and recruitment of new members can't keep the membership numbers from declining. The influence of the party is rather bigger than that, as it tries – so far rather successfully – to take advantage of the fragmented Czech political situation and make itself a necessary part of any coalition, whether the winning big party be left- or right-wing.

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).

KDU–ČSL is a member of the European People's Party (EPP).

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 reurned to the Parliament after 2013 election.

Internal Structure

Membership

KDU-ČSL had 27,662 Members in 2015 whichh 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.[16]

Party Strongholds

KDU-ČSL is known to have very strong electoral core which is concentrated primarily in South Moravia. The party has very stable electoral support thanks to it and managed to gain seats in Chamber of Deputies everytime since 1990 with exception of 2010[17]

Partners

Notable partners and suborganisations of the KDU-ČSL are:

Election results

National Assembly of the Czechoslovak Republic

Czech National Council

Year Seats
1968 16
1971 15
1976 12
1981 14
1986 14

Czech National Council/Chamber of Deputies

Year Leader Vote Vote % Seats Place Government
1990 Josef Bartončík 607,137 8.42 20 4th KDU-ČSL-OF coalition
1992 Josef Lux 406,341Decrease 6.28Decrease 15Decrease 5thDecrease ODS-KDU-ČSL-ODA coalition
1996 Josef Lux 489,349Increase 8.08Increase 18Increase 4thIncrease ODS-KDU-ČSL-ODA coalition
1998 Josef Lux 537,013Increase 8.99Increase 20Increase 4th in opposition
2002 Cyril Svoboda 680,670Increase 14.27Increase 31Increase 4th ČSSD-KDU-ČSL-US-DEU coalition
2006 Miroslav Kalousek 386,706Decrease 7.23Decrease 13Decrease 4th ODS-KDU-ČSL-SZ coalition
2010 Cyril Svoboda 229,717Decrease 4.39Decrease 0Decrease 6thDecrease extra-parliamentary
2013 Pavel Bělobrádek 336.970Increase 6.78Increase 14Increase 7thDecrease ČSSD-ANO-KDU-ČSL coalition

Senate

Election First round Second round Seats gained
Votes % Places* Votes % Places*
1996** 274,316 9.9 4th 247,819 10.7 3rd 13
1998*** 255,785 26.6 2nd 166,483 31.0 2nd 5
2000 121,355 14.1 4th 137,515 24.4 2nd 8
2002 58,858 8.8 4th 47,049 5.7 4th 1
2004 97,956 13.5 3rd 54,501 11.4 3rd 0
2006 125,388 11.8 4th 59,603 10.4 3rd 4
2008 82,870 7.9 - 42,225 5.13 - 0
2010 87,182 7.6 4th 42,990 6.32 4th 2
2012 61,006 6.94 4th 14,995 2.92 4th 1
2014 84,328 8.21 5th 77,103 16.27 2nd 4
2016 74,709 8.48 5th 78,448 18.50 2nd 6

* 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

European Parliament

Election Votes Share of votes in % Seats obtained Place
2004
223,383
9.57
2
4th
2009
180,451Decrease
7.64Decrease
2Steady
4thSteady
2014
150,792Decrease
9.95Increase
3Increase
5thDecrease

Local election

Year Vote Vote % Seats
1990 12.2%
1994 9,260,542 7.23 7,616
1998 7,206,346Decrease 11.18Increase 7,121Decrease
2002 7,728,402Increase 9.58Decrease 6,013Decrease
2006 6,263,980Decrease 5.76Decrease 5,049Decrease
2010 4,938,960Decrease 5.47Decrease 3,738Decrease
2014 4,865,956Decrease 4.91Decrease 3,792Increase

Regional election

Year Vote Vote % Seats Places
2000 537,012 22.86 171 2nd
2004 226,016Decrease 10.67Decrease 72Decrease 4thDecrease
2008 193,911Decrease 6.65Decrease 56Decrease 4thSteady
2012 261,724Increase 9.87Increase 61Increase 4thSteady
2016 159,610Decrease 6.30Decrease 42Decrease 5thDecrease

Further reading

Notes

    References

    1. ↑ "Stranám utíkají i vymírají členové po tisících". Novinky.cz. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
    2. 1 2 Wolfram Nordsieck. "Parties and Elections in Europe". Retrieved 25 May 2016.
    3. ↑ Terry, Chris. "Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party (KDU-CSL)". The Democratic Society. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
    4. ↑ "Czech KDU-CSL congress re-elects Belobradek party chairman". České Noviny. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
    5. ↑ "Czech KDU-CSL congress re-elects Belobradek party chairman". České Noviny. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
    6. ↑ Siaroff, Alan (2000). Comparative European party systems : an analysis of parliamentary elections since 1945 ([Online-Ausg.]. ed.). New York [u.a.]: Garland. ISBN 0-8153-2930-X. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
    7. ↑ "BBC NEWS - UK - UK Politics - Defiant Tory MEP loses party whip". Retrieved 25 May 2016.
    8. ↑ EPP - European People's Party. "EPP - European People's Party". EPP - European People's Party. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
    9. ↑ "Q&A: Czech election". BBC News. 4 June 2006.
    10. ↑ "Středopravicová-konzervativní strana tu už existuje, říká Šojdrová. Je to KDU-ČSL!". KDU.cz. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
    11. ↑ "Mgr. Jiří Junek". KDU.cz. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
    12. ↑ "Lidovci představili volební program, slibují nižší daně". Novinky.cz. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
    13. ↑ José Magone (26 August 2010). Contemporary European Politics: A Comparative Introduction. Routledge. pp. 456–. ISBN 978-0-203-84639-1. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
    14. ↑ Velinger, Jan (26 October 2013). "Social Democrats win election but result is poorer than expected". Radio Prague. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
    15. ↑ 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.
    16. ↑ Martínek, Jan. "Stranám utíkají i vymírají členové po tisících". Novinky.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 1 July 2016.
    17. ↑ "Sjezd KDU-ČSL rozhoduje o budoucnosti Čunka i celé strany". iDNES.cz. 30 May 2009. Retrieved 1 July 2016.

    External links

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