Freedom Union – Democratic Union

The Freedom Union–Democratic Union (Template:Langx, US–DEU) was a small pro-European liberal political party in the Czech Republic from 1998 to 2011.

The Freedom Union was founded in January 1998 by former members of the Civic Democratic Party who were unhappy with the leadership of Václav Klaus. After initially serving in a caretaker government, Freedom Union went into opposition after the 1998 election. In opposition, Freedom Union merged with the Democratic Union, and formed an alliance with the Christian Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party (KDU-ČSL).

From 2002 to 2006 Freedom Union was part of a coalition government with the Social Democratic Party and KDU-ČSL. However, in government the party lost support and at the 2006 election the party won less than 1% of the vote and failed to win any seats. The party disbanded on 1 January 2011.

History

Founding

The party was founded on 17 January 1998 at a congress in Litomyšl as the Freedom Union (Template:Lang), as a split from the Civic Democratic Party (ODS).<ref name="dictionary">Template:Cite book</ref> The party was founded after divisions within ODS over the leadership of Václav Klaus, and what the defectors said was his failure to tackle funding scandals.<ref name=union/><ref name=dictionary/> The former interior minister Jan Ruml led a challenge for the ODS leadership, but was defeated by Klaus by 227 votes to 72 at a special congress on 14 December 1997.<ref name="titanic">Template:Cite news</ref> This prompted 30 ODS members of parliament to form the Freedom Union, including Finance Minister Ivan Pilip and Defence Minister Michal Lobkowicz.<ref name=union/><ref name=dictionary/><ref name="velvet">Template:Cite bookTemplate:ISBN?</ref> The party elected Jan Ruml as its first leader on 2 February 1998.<ref name=dictionary/>

Pilip and Lobkowicz were among the members of the Freedom Union who served in the caretaker government of Josef Tošovský, formed after the collapse of the coalition led by Václav Klaus.<ref name=velvet/> The party initially attracted public support, with a poll in March 1998 showing the Freedom Union on 13%, ahead of ODS on 8%.<ref name=velvet/> However the party suffered in the campaign for the June 1998 election, due to a lack of readiness for an election and a vague programme that was seen as being very similar to that of ODS.<ref name=velvet/>

Opposition

At the 1998 election the Freedom Union won 8.6% of the vote and 19 seats in the Chamber of Deputies.<ref name=velvet/> Refusing to form a government with ODS led by Václav Klaus, or with the Social Democratic Party due to policy differences, the party went into opposition.<ref name="beyond">Template:Cite bookTemplate:ISBN?</ref><ref name="surprise">Template:Cite news</ref> Instead the Social Democrats formed a minority government, which was tolerated by ODS.<ref name=beyond/>

In September 1998, the Freedom Union formed an alliance called the "Four-Coalition" with three other centre-right parties: KDU-ČSL, the Democratic Union, and the Civic Democratic Alliance.<ref name="senat">Template:Cite web</ref> The Four-Coalition went on to win the most seats in the November 1998 Senate election.<ref name=senat/> Ruml resigned as leader in December 1999, and the following February the party elected Karel Kühnl as the new leader, with 193 votes compared to 87 for Vladimír Mlynář.<ref name="kuehnl">Template:Cite web</ref>

The Freedom Union performed strongly at the November 2000 Senate election, becoming the third largest party in the Senate.<ref name="economic">Template:Cite bookTemplate:ISBN?</ref> In late 2001, Freedom Union merged with the Democratic Union party to form the Freedom Union-Democratic Union (US-DEU).<ref name=union/> However the Four-Coalition split at the beginning of 2002, after a lack of agreement on how to manage the high level of debts held by the Civic Democratic Alliance.<ref name=union/> Freedom Union-Democratic Union instead formed an alliance with KDU-ČSL to fight the 2002 election as the "Coalition".<ref name=union/>

Government

At the 2002 election the coalition of the Freedom Union-Democratic Union and KDU-ČSL won 31 seats in the Chamber of Deputies,<ref name="talks">Template:Cite news</ref> and subsequently became part of a coalition government led by the Czech Social Democratic Party, which had a majority of one seat.<ref name=dictionary/> However, at the 2002 Senate election, the Freedom Union-Democratic Union was reduced to only one senator.<ref name=dictionary/>

As a party of government, the party started losing members and support, and suffered defeat in the 2004 European Parliament elections, failing to pass the 5% threshold required to win seats.<ref name="confidence">Template:Cite news</ref> Party leader Petr Mares resigned as a result, and was succeeded by the Regional Development Minister Pavel Němec.<ref name="foreign">Template:Cite news</ref> The party won just one seat at the 2004 Senate election.<ref name="senate">Template:Cite news</ref>

Decline and dissolution

At the 2006 election, the party received just 0.3% of the vote, and lost all its seats in the Chamber of Deputies, triggering the resignation of its leader, Pavel Němec.<ref name=dictionary/>

The party held a final party conference on 4 December 2010, where it was decided to disband the party as of 1 January 2011.<ref name=unie/>

Policies

The Freedom Union-Democratic Union was a centre-right liberal party,<ref name=union/> which promoted free market policies and supported lower taxes and university tuition fees.<ref name=union/> The party was also a consistent critic of corruption.<ref name=union/>

However the party was also socially liberal, supporting the protection of the environment and minority rights.<ref name=union/> For the 2006 election, the party called for the legalisation of euthanasia, same-sex marriage and marijuana.<ref name="marriage">Template:Cite news</ref> The party was also pro-European and supported direct presidential elections.<ref name=sphere/><ref name=union/>

Support for the party was mostly among younger urban voters and those with higher education.<ref name=union/>

Election results

Chamber of deputies of the Czech Republic

Year	Vote	Vote %	Seats	Place	Government
1996	...	...	Template:Composition bar<ref>Split from ODS in 1998</ref>	3rd	Yes
1998	513,596	8.6	Template:Composition bar	5th	No
2002<ref>Participated in Coalition with KDU-ČSL</ref>	680,671Template:Increase	14.27Template:Increase	Template:Composition bar	4th	Yes
2006	16,457Template:Decrease	0.3Template:Decrease	Template:Composition bar	11thTemplate:Decrease	No

Senate

Election	First round			Second round			Seats
	Votes	%	Places	Votes	%	Places
1998							Template:Composition bar
2000	99,504	11.6	5th	98,985	17.6	3rd	Template:Composition bar
2002	48,879	7.3	5th	36,294	4.4	6th	Template:Composition bar
2004	26,431	3.6	7th	23,922	5.0	5th	Template:Composition bar
2006	18,522	1.7	8th	7,367	1.3	9th	Template:Composition bar
2008							Template:Composition bar

Presidential

Indirect Election	Candidate		First round result			Second round result			Third round result
			Votes	%Votes	Result	Votes	%Votes	Result	Votes	%Votes	Result
1998		Václav Havel	130	70.65	Template:Depends	146	52.3	Template:Yes2	—
2003	style="background-color: Template:Party color" width="2px"|	Jan Sokol	128	46.55	Template:Depends	129	48.13	Template:Depends	124	46.6	Template:No2

European Parliament

Year	Vote	Vote %	Seats	Place
2004	39,655	1.7	Template:Composition bar	8th

Leaders

Leader	Period
Jan Ruml	2 February 1998 – December 1999<ref name=dictionary/>
Karel Kühnl	February 2000 – 2002<ref name=dictionary/>
Hana Marvanová	2002<ref name=dictionary/>
Ivan Pilip (interim)	July 2002 – January 2003<ref name="maranova">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="will">Template:Cite news</ref>
Petr Mares	January 2003 – July 2004<ref name=foreign/>
Pavel Němec	July 2004 – 2006<ref name=dictionary/><ref name=foreign/>
Jan Černý	June 2007 – 2011<ref name=dictionary/>

External links

• Freedom Union–Democratic Union official site