KDU-ČSL

KDU-ČSL (Czech shortcut from 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 and have participated in both left-wing and right-wing coalition governments. 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,[13] thereby becoming the first party ever to return to the Chamber of Deputies after dropping out.

KDU–ČSL
LeaderMarian Jurečka
Deputy LeadersŠárka Jelínková
Jan Bartošek
Petr Hladík
Tomáš Zdechovský
Ondřej Benešík
Secretary GeneralPavel Hořava
Chamber of Deputies LeaderJan Bartošek
Senate LeaderPetr Šilar
MEP LeaderTomáš Zdechovský
FounderJan Šrámek
Founded3 January 1919
Merger ofMSKSSM, KNKSM,
ČKSSKČ, KNKSČ, KSL
HeadquartersPalác Charitas, Karlovo náměstí 5, Prague
NewspaperNový hlas
Think tankInstitute for Christian Democratic Politics
Youth wingYoung Christian Democrats
Young Populars
Women's wingWomen's Association
Membership21,870[1]
IdeologyChristian democracy[2][3]
Social conservatism[4][5]
Pro-Europeanism[6][7]
Political positionCentre[8][9] to centre-right[10][11]
European affiliationEuropean People's Party
International affiliationCentrist Democrat International
European Parliament groupEuropean People's Party
Colors     Yellow
Chamber of Deputies
10 / 200
Senate
15 / 81
European Parliament
2 / 21
Regional councils
55 / 675
Governors of the regions
1 / 13
Local councils
4,066 / 62,178
Party flag
Website
www.kdu.cz

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.[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

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.

Leader Marian Jurečka

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

Internal Structure

Membership

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 1990s when the party had 100,000 Members, It is caused by high average age of members.[19]

199119921999200820122013201420152016
95,43588,00060,00040,000[20]33,00029,97628,54127,662[21]26,420[22]

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[23]

Partners

Notable partners and suborganisations of the KDU-ČSL are:

Pavel Bělobrádek, leader of the party from 2010 to 2019

Leaders

Symbols
Ex leader and mayor of Zlín region Jiří Čunek

Party patron is Saint Wenceslaus, on every congress is played Saint Wenceslas Chorale. Members addressing themselves as brothers and sisters.

Party had many symbols through history, current logo depicts symbol of Christian cross on linden leaf.[24]

Logos
  • Party parliamentary caucus symbol, 1935
  • Party logo, 1945–1992
  • Party logo, 1992–2006
  • Party logo, 2006–2012
  • Current logo, since 2012

Name of the party over time

Election results

Czechoslovakia wide elections

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

Devolved assembly elections

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

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

Czech Republic wide elections

Legislative elections
Date Leader Votes Seats Position
# % # ± Size
1996 Josef Lux 489,349 8.08
18 / 200
 3 4th ODS–KDU-ČSL–ODA
1998 Josef Lux 537,013 8.99
20 / 200
 2 4th In opposition
2002 Cyril Svoboda 680,670 14.27
31 / 200
 11 4th ČSSD–KDU-ČSL–US-DEU
2006 Miroslav Kalousek 386,706 7.23
13 / 200
 18 4th ODS–KDU-ČSL–SZ
2010 Cyril Svoboda 229,717 4.39
0 / 200
 13 6th No seats
2013 Pavel Bělobrádek 336.970 6.78
14 / 200
 14 7th ČSSD–ANO–KDU-ČSL
2017 Pavel Bělobrádek 293,643 5.80
10 / 200
 4 7th In opposition

Senate
Election First round Second round Seats gained
Votes % Places* Votes % Places*
1996**274,3169.94th247,81910.73rd
13 / 81
1998***255,78526.62nd166,48331.02nd
5 / 27
2000121,35514.14th137,51524.42nd
8 / 27
200258,8588.84th47,0495.74th
1 / 27
200497,95613.53rd54,50111.43rd
3 / 27
2006125,38811.84th59,60310.43rd
4 / 27
200882,8707.9-42,2255.13-
0 / 27
201087,1827.64th42,9906.324th
2 / 27
201261,0066.944th14,9952.924th
1 / 27
201484,3288.215th77,10316.272nd
4 / 27
201674,7098.485th78,44818.502nd
6 / 27
201899,3839.124th34,8338.335th
2 / 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
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

European Parliament
ElectionVotesShare of votes in %Seats obtainedPlace
2004
223,383
9.57
2 / 24
4th
2009
180,451
7.64
2 / 22
4th
2014
150,792
9.95
3 / 21
5th
2019
171,723
7.24
2 / 21
6th

Local elections
Year Vote Vote % Seats
1990 8,845,562 11,5 8,083
1994 9,260,542 7.23 7,616
1998 7,206,346 11.18 7,119
2002 7,728,402 9.58 6,013
2006 6,263,980 5.76 5,049
2010 4,938,960 5.47 3,738
2014 4,865,956 4.91 3,792

Regional elections
Year Vote Vote % Seats Places
2000 537,012 22.86
72 / 675
 2nd
2004 226,016 10.67
84 / 675
 4th
2008 193,911 6.65
56 / 675
 4th
2012 261,724 9.87
61 / 675
 4th
2016 159,610 6.30
61 / 675
 5th

Further reading
  • Brenner, Christiane (2004). Michael Gehler; Wolfram Kaiser (eds.). A Missed Opportunity to Oppose State Socialism?: The People's Party in Chechoslavakia. Christian Democracy in Europe since 1945. Routledge. pp. 151–168. ISBN 0-7146-5662-3.
  • Suppan, Arnold (2004). Catholic People's Parties in East Central Europe: The Bohemian Lands and Slovakia. Political Catholicism in Europe 1918-1945. 1. Routledge. pp. 178–192.

Notes
    gollark: You said you eat gecki, which is the plural, silly.
    gollark: ++delete <@!421060058009305088> for eating of gecken, the most worstest crime.
    gollark: Those who eat gecken will be punished with deletion.
    gollark: Heresy.
    gollark: Gecki/gecken is the plural, gecke is the singular.

    References
    1. "Trikolóra má už víc fanoušků než STAN a Piráti". Novinky.cz. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
    2. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2017). "Czechia". Parties and Elections in Europe.
    3. José Magone (2010). Contemporary European Politics: A Comparative Introduction. Routledge. p. 456. ISBN 978-0-203-84639-1.
    4. Terry, Chris (20 February 2014). "Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party (KDU-CSL)". The Democratic Society. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
    5. "Czech KDU-CSL congress re-elects Belobradek party chairman". České Noviny. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
    6. "Evropa je prostorem společných hodnot". kdu.cz (in Czech). 10 December 2015. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
    7. "Pavel Bělobrádek: Některé Čunkovy výroky o EU mohou být důsledkem nedostatku informací, možná i vzdělání" (in Czech). 23 April 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
    8. "Q&A: Czech election". BBC News. 4 June 2006.
    9. https://www.kdu.cz/moje-kdu/stante-se-clenem
    10. "Středopravicová-konzervativní strana tu už existuje, říká Šojdrová. Je to KDU-ČSL!". KDU.cz. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
    11. 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.
    12. https://www.kdu.cz/o-nas/dokumenty/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. televize, Česká. "Lidovci a Starostové podepsali koaliční smlouvu, za premiéra chtějí Bělobrádka". ČT24 (in Czech). 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". www.ceskenoviny.cz (in Czech). ČeskéNoviny.cz. 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. "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). Retrieved 20 January 2017.
    21. "Stranám utíkají i vymírají členové po tisících". Novinky.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 20 January 2017.
    22. "Základny tradičních politických stran klesají, mnohé partaje proto sbírají registrované příznivce | EuroZprávy.cz". 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. https://www.kdu.cz/getmedia/753ba290-b80c-4c01-a6f9-611b5bf8effe/KDU_manual_2012.aspx
    25. Šídlo, Jindřich (15 January 2008). "Lidovci jsou pro Klause". Hospodářské noviny (in Czech). Retrieved 16 January 2017.

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