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KDU-ČSL

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Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party
Křesťanská a demokratická unie – Československá strana lidová
AbbreviationLidovci
LeaderMarian Jurečka
Deputy LeadersŠárka Jelínková
Jan Bartošek
Petr Hladík
Lukáš Curylo
Ondřej Benešík
Tom Philipp
Secretary GeneralPavel Hořava
Chamber of Deputies LeaderJan Bartošek
Senate LeaderŠárka Jelínková
MEP LeaderTomáš Zdechovský
FounderJan Šrámek
Founded3 January 1919; 105 years ago (1919-01-03)
Merger ofMSKSSM, KNKSM,
ČKSSKČ, KNKSČ, KSL
HeadquartersPalác Charitas, Karlovo náměstí 5, Prague
NewspaperNový Hlas
Think tankInstitute for Christian Democratic Politics
Youth wingYoung Populars
Women's wingWomen's Association
Membership18,600[1]
Ideology
Political positionCentre[7] to centre-right[10]
National affiliationSPOLU
European affiliationEuropean People's Party
European Parliament groupEuropean People's Party
International affiliationCentrist Democrat International
Colors  Yellow
  Blue[11]
Chamber of Deputies
23 / 200
Senate
12 / 81
European Parliament
1 / 21
Regional councils
53 / 675
Governors of the regions
1 / 13
Local councils
4,066 / 62,178
Party flag
Website
www.kdu.cz/domu Edit this at Wikidata

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

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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

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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 members are elderly. 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.

Leader Marian Jurečka

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

Internal structure

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Membership

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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 since the 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

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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 the Chamber of Deputies during every election cycle in the Czech Republic since 1990 with the exception of 2010.[23]

Partners

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Notable partners and suborganisations of the KDU-ČSL are:

Pavel Bělobrádek, leader of the party from 2010 to 2019

Leaders

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Symbols

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Ex leader and mayor of Zlín region Jiří Čunek

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

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  • Party symbol, 1930's
    Party symbol, 1930's
  • Party logo, 1945–1992
    Party logo, 1945–1992
  • Party logo, 1992–2006
    Party logo, 1992–2006
  • Party logo, 2006–2012
    Party logo, 2006–2012
  • Party logo, 2012–2024
    Party logo, 2012–2024
  • Current logo, since 2024
    Current logo, since 2024

Name of the party over time

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Election results

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Czechoslovakia wide elections

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Legislative elections

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Date Leader Votes Seats Position
# % # ± Size
1920 Collective leadership 699,728 11.3
33 / 281
 Increase 33 2nd Opposition
1925 Jan Šrámek 691,238 9.7
31 / 300
 Decrease 2 3rd Coalition
1929 Jan Šrámek 623,340 8.4
25 / 300
 Decrease 6 5th Coalition
1935 Jan Šrámek 615,804 7.5
22 / 300
 Decrease 3 6th Coalition
1946 Jan Šrámek 1,111,009 15.7
46 / 300
 Increase 24 3rd Coalition
1948 as part of National Front
23 / 300
 Decrease 23 4th Bloc
1954
20 / 368
 Decrease 3 3rd Bloc
1960
16 / 300
 Decrease 4 4th Bloc
1964
20 / 300
 Increase 4 4th Bloc
1971
8 / 200
 Decrease 12 4th Bloc
1976
11 / 200
 Increase 3 4th Bloc
1981
13 / 200
 Increase 2 3rd Bloc
1986
11 / 200
 Decrease 2 4th Bloc
1990 Josef Bartončík 629,359 5.9
9 / 150
 Decrease 2 5th Coalition
1992 Josef Lux 388,122 4.0
7 / 150
 Decrease 2 7th Coalition

Devolved assembly elections

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Czech assembly elections

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Date Leader Votes Seats Position
# % # ± Size
1968 as part of National Front
16 / 200
 Increase 16 3rd Bloc
1971
15 / 200
 Decrease 1 2nd Bloc
1976
12 / 200
 Decrease 3 3rd Bloc
1981
14 / 200
 Increase 2 2nd Bloc
1986
14 / 200
 Steady 0 2nd Bloc
1990 Josef Bartončík 607,134 8.42
20 / 200
 Increase 6 4th Coalition
1992 Josef Lux 406,341 6.28
15 / 200
 Decrease 5 5th Coalition

Slovak assembly elections

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Date Leader Votes Seats Position
# % # ± Size
1928 Martin Mičura 43,689 3.31
2 / 54
 Increase 2 8th –
1935 Martin Mičura – 3.0
1 / 54
 Decrease 1 8th –
Headquarters of KDU ČSL, Charitas Palace in Prague

Czech Republic wide elections

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Legislative elections

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Date Leader Votes Seats Position
# % # ± Size
1996 Josef Lux 489,349 8.08
18 / 200
 Increase 3 4thIncrease ODS–KDU-ČSL–ODA
1998 Josef Lux 537,013 8.99
20 / 200
 Increase 2 4th Opposition
2002 Cyril Svoboda 680,670 14.27
22 / 200
 Increase 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
 Decrease 18 4th ODS–KDU-ČSL–SZ
2010 Cyril Svoboda 229,717 4.39
0 / 200
 Decrease 13 6thDecrease No seats
2013 Pavel Bělobrádek 336.970 6.78
14 / 200
 Increase 14 7thDecrease ČSSD–ANO–KDU-ČSL
2017 Pavel Bělobrádek 293,643 5.80
10 / 200
 Decrease 4 7th Opposition
2021 Marian Jurečka 1,493,701 27.79
23 / 200
 Increase 13 2nd SPOLU – PirStan
Part of SPOLU coalition, which won 71 seats in total

Senate elections

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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

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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)

Jan Sokol

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[a] Petr Pavel 1,975,056 35.40 Runner-up 3,358,926 58.33 Won
Danuše Nerudová 777,080 13.93 3rd place supported Petr Pavel
Pavel Fischer 376,705 6.75 4th place supported Petr Pavel
  1. ^ The SPOLU coalition supported 3 independent candidates for this election.

European Parliament

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Election List leader Votes % Seats +/– EP Group
2004 Zuzana Roithová 223,383 9.57 (#4)
2 / 24
 New EPP-ED
2009 180,451 7.64 (#4)
2 / 22
 Steady 0 EPP
2014 Pavel Svoboda 150,792 9.95 (#5)
3 / 22
 Increase 1
2019 171,723 7.24 (#6)
2 / 21
 Decrease 1
2024[a] Alexandr Vondra 661,250 22.27 (#2)
1 / 21
 Decrease 1
  1. ^ Run as part of the SPOLU coalition.

Local elections

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Year Vote Vote % Seats
1990 8,845,562 11,5 8,083
1994 9,260,542 Increase 7.23 Decrease 7,616Decrease
1998 7,206,346Decrease 11.18Increase 7,119Decrease
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
2018 5,599,336Increase 5.02Increase 3,633Decrease

Regional elections

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Year Vote Vote % Seats Places
2000 537,012 22.86
72 / 675
 2nd
2004 226,016Decrease 10.67Decrease
84 / 675
 4thDecrease
2008 193,911Decrease 6.65Decrease
56 / 675
 4thSteady
2012 261,724Increase 9.87Increase
61 / 675
 4thSteady
2016 159,610Decrease 6.30Decrease
61 / 675
 5thDecrease
2020 252,598Increase 9.12Increase
53 / 675
 5thDecrease

2020 Czech regional election results

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Region[26] Coalition partner # of
overall votes 		% of
overall vote 		Seats Governance[27]
# ± Position
Central Bohemian STAN 92,903 22.21
2 / 65
 Increase 2 Increase 5th STAN–ODS–Pirates–TOP 09+Greens-Voice
South Bohemian TOP 09 20,798 10.45
4 / 55
 Steady Decrease 6th ODS–KDU-ČSL+TOP 09–ČSSD–JIH12
Plzeň ADS and Non-Partisians 7,588 4.36 — Decrease 2 Decrease 11th ODS+TOP 09–STAN–Pirates
Karlovy Vary ODS 5,870 7.35
2 / 45
 Increase 1 Increase 8th STAN+TOP 09-Pirates-ODS+KDU ČSL-Local movements
Ústí nad Labem ODS 24,739 12.37
1 / 55
 Increase 1 Increase 8th ANO–ODS–TOP 09+Greens
Liberec TOP 09 5,328 3.83 — Steady Increase 7th Mayors for Liberec Region–Pirates–ODS
Hradec Králové VPM and Non-Partisians 14,738 8.32
4 / 45
 Steady Decrease 5th ODS+STAN+VČ–KDU-ČSL–Pirates–TOP 09+HDK
Pardubice SNK-ED and Non-Partisians 22,280 13.41
4 / 45
 Decrease 1 Decrease 5th ČSSD–ODS+TOP 09–KDU-ČSL–STAN
Vysočina — 19,082 11.96
6 / 45
 Decrease 1 Steady 3rd ODS+STO–Pirates–KDU-ČSL–ČSSD–STAN
South Moravian — 56,423 15.54
11 / 65
 Steady Steady 2nd KDU-ČSL–Pirates–ODS–STAN
Olomouc TOP 09 and Greens 34,519 18.43
6 / 55
 Decrease 1 Steady 4th STAN+Pirates–KDU-ČSL+TOP 09–ODS
Zlín — 35,782 18.62
9 / 45
 Decrease 3 Decrease 2nd ANO–Pirates–ODS–ČSSD
Moravian-Silesian — 30,190 9.57
7 / 65
 Decrease 1 Steady 4th ANO–ODS+TOP 09–KDU-ČSL–ČSSD

Further reading

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  • Brenner, Christiane (2004). Michael Gehler; Wolfram Kaiser (eds.). A Missed Opportunity to Oppose State Socialism?: The People's Party in Chechoslavakia. Routledge. pp. 151–168. ISBN 0-7146-5662-3. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  • Suppan, Arnold (2004). Catholic People's Parties in East Central Europe: The Bohemian Lands and Slovakia. Vol. 1. Routledge. pp. 178–192. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)

Notes

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References

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  1. ^ "4. Srpna - Události | Česká televize".
  2. ^ a b Nordsieck, Wolfram (2017). "Czechia". Parties and Elections in Europe.
  3. ^ a b José Magone (2010). Contemporary European Politics: A Comparative Introduction. Routledge. p. 456. ISBN 978-0-203-84639-1.
  4. ^ [2][3]
  5. ^ Terry, Chris (20 February 2014). "Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party (KDU-CSL)". The Democratic Society. Archived from the original on 27 June 2018.
  6. ^ "Czech KDU-CSL congress re-elects Belobradek party chairman". České Noviny. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  7. ^ "Q&A: Czech election". BBC News. 4 June 2006.
  8. ^ "Středopravicová-konzervativní strana tu už existuje, říká Šojdrová. Je to KDU-ČSL!". KDU.cz. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ [8][9]
  11. ^ https://www.kdu.cz/getattachment/O-nas/Grafika/Graficky-manual/LIDOVCI-ZAKLADNI-MANUAL-ZNACKY.pdf.aspx LIDOVCI ZÁKLADNÍ MANUÁL ZNAČKY
  12. ^ "KDU-ČSL - Stanovy".
  13. ^ Velinger, Jan (26 October 2013). "Social Democrats win election but result is poorer than expected". Radio Prague. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
  14. ^ 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.
  15. ^ "Lidovci a Starostové podepsali koaliční smlouvu, za premiéra chtějí Bělobrádka". ČT24 (in Czech). Česká televize. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  16. ^ "Koalice nebude. Vedení KDU-ČSL vyzvalo STAN, ať vstoupí na jejich kandidátky". Lidovky.cz (in Czech). 18 July 2017. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  17. ^ "Lidovci zvolili vedení a upravili název strany na zkratku KDU-ČSL" (in Czech). ČeskéNoviny.cz. Czech News Agency. 30 March 2019. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  18. ^ Kenety, Brian (18 November 2019). "CHRISTIAN DEMOCRAT LEADER MAY RESIGN IN WAKE OF WIFE'S DEATH". Radio.cz. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  19. ^ Martínek, Jan (12 April 2015). "Stranám utíkají i vymírají členové po tisících". Novinky.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 1 July 2016.
  20. ^ "Členům KSČM je v průměru 70 let, zjistila si strana". Novinky.cz (in Czech). 7 May 2008. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
  21. ^ "Stranám utíkají i vymírají členové po tisících". Novinky.cz (in Czech). 12 April 2015. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
  22. ^ "Základny tradičních politických stran klesají, mnohé partaje proto sbírají registrované příznivce". EuroZprávy.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 20 January 2017.
  23. ^ "Sjezd KDU-ČSL rozhoduje o budoucnosti Čunka i celé strany". iDNES.cz. 30 May 2009. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
  24. ^ "KDU manuál 2012" (PDF). KDU-ČSL.
  25. ^ Šídlo, Jindřich (15 January 2008). "Lidovci jsou pro Klause". Hospodářské noviny (in Czech). Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  26. ^ Czech Statistical Office
  27. ^ Aktualne.cz
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Czech

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English

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