KDU-ČSL
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Expand Czech Template:Infobox political party KDU-ČSL (In Czech, the initials of the Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Langx), often shortened to Template:Lang ("the populars"), is a Christian democratic<ref name="Nordsieck">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Magone2010">Template:Cite book</ref> political party in the Czech Republic, led by Marek Výborný. The party has taken part in most of the Czech government coalitions since 1990, and has been represented in every parliament except for the 6th Czech parliament (2010–2013). It currently forms part of the Cabinet of Petr Fiala, as part of the Spolu electoral alliance.
History
After the collapse of the Habsburg monarchy, the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, and the formation of the First Czechoslovak Republic, Jan Šrámek helped unite a number of Catholic political parties to create the Czechoslovak People's Party in 1919.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The party remained continuously active throughout the twentieth century. After the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, Šrámek served as head of the Czechoslovak government in exile in the United Kingdom. After 1945, ČSL was part of the national unity government, forming its most right-wing section.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It was one of many parties brought together in the National Front, which was initially a tripartisme-style coalition meant to drive out the Nazis, but was permanently used by the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) to control political and social activities in the country, especially after the 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'etat.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Since the Velvet Revolution in 1989, the party has participated in almost every Czech government. In the June 2006 legislative election, KDU-ČSL won 7.2% of the vote and 13 out of 200 seats. However, in the 2010 election, its vote share dropped to 4.4%, and the party lost all of its seats. The party regained its parliamentary representation in the 2013 legislative election, winning 14 seats in the new parliament,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> thus becoming the first party ever to return to the Chamber of Deputies after previously dropping out.
In 2015, the KDU-ČSL leadership established a think tank, the Institute for Christian Democratic Politics (Institut pro křesťansko-demokratickou politiku), to promote Christian Democratic political ideas.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The foundation's headquarters are located in the party's headquarters in Palác Charitas in Prague.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref name="ČT24 2017">Template:Cite web</ref> The coalition disintegrated before the election,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> thus the party went into the elections standalone, receiving 5.8% of votes.
In March 2019 the party was officially renamed to its common abbreviation, KDU-ČSL, and Marek Výborný became the new party leader.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> After the death of his wife, Výborný announced his resignation in November 2019 for personal reasons.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Membership
KDU-ČSL had 27,662 Members in 2015, the second largest member base of any party in the Czech Republic. The number has been decreasing since the 1990s when the party had 100,000 members.<ref name="member base">Template:Cite web</ref>
| 1991 | 1992 | 1999 | 2008 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2019 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 95,435 | 88,000 | 60,000 | 40,000<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 33,000 | 29,976 | 28,541 | 27,662<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 26,420<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 21,870 | 17,957 |
Party strongholds
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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Names over time
- 1919–1992 The Czechoslovak People's Party (Československá strana lidová) – merger of Moravian-Silesian Christian Social Party in Moravia, Catholic-National Conservative Party in Moravia, Czech Christian Social Party in the Kingdom of Bohemia and Catholic-National Conservative Party in Bohemia, Conservative People's Party.
- 1992–2019 The Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party (Křesťanská a demokratická unie – Československá strana lidová)
- Since 2019 KDU-ČSL - after renaming to party' abbreviation.
Leaders
- Jan Šrámek (1922–1948)
- Alois Petr (1948–1951)
- Josef Plojhar (1951–1968)
- Antonín Pospíšil (1968–1973)
- Rostislav Petera (1973–1980)
- František Toman (1980–1981)
- Zbyněk Žalman (1981–1989)
- Josef Bartončík (1989–1990)
- Josef Lux (1990–1998)
- Jan Kasal (1999–2001)
- Cyril Svoboda (2001–2003)
- Miroslav Kalousek (2003–2006)
- Jan Kasal (2006)
- Jiří Čunek (2006–2009)
- Cyril Svoboda (2009–2010)
- Michaela Šojdrová (2010)
- Pavel Bělobrádek (2010–2019)
- Marek Výborný (2019–2020)
- Marian Jurečka (2020–2024)
- Marek Výborný (Since 2024)
Symbols
KDU-ČSL had many symbols through history, with the current logo depicting a Christian cross on a linden leaf.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Logos
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Party symbol, 1930s
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Party logo, 1945–1992
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Party logo, 1992–2006
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Party logo, 2006–2012
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Current logo, since 2012
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Electoral logo, 2024
Election results
Czechoslovakia wide elections
Legislative elections
Devolved assembly elections
Czech assembly elections
| Date | Leader | Votes | Seats | Position | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | ± | Size | |||
| 1968 | Template:Small | Template:Composition bar | Template:Increase 25 | 3rd | Bloc | ||
| 1971 | Template:Composition bar | Template:Decrease 10 | 2nd | Bloc | |||
| 1976 | Template:Composition bar | Template:Decrease 1 | 3rd | Bloc | |||
| 1981 | Template:Composition bar | Template:Steady 0 | 2nd | Bloc | |||
| 1986 | Template:Composition bar | Template:Steady 0 | 2nd | Bloc | |||
| 1990 | Josef Bartončík | 607,134 | 8.42 | Template:Composition bar | Template:Increase 6 | 4th | Coalition |
| 1992 | Josef Lux | 406,341 | 6.28 | Template:Composition bar | Template:Decrease 5 | 5th | Coalition |
Slovak assembly elections
| Date | Leader | Votes | Seats | Position | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | ± | Size | |||
| 1928 | Martin Mičura | 43,689 | 3.31 | Template:Composition bar | Template:Increase 2 | 8th | – |
| 1935 | Martin Mičura | 30,563 | 2.0 | Template:Composition bar | Template:Decrease 2 | 10th | – |
Czech Republic wide elections
Legislative elections
Senate elections
Presidential
| Indirect Election | Candidate | First round result | Second round result | Third round result | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | %Votes | Result | Votes | %Votes | Result | Votes | %Votes | Result | |||
| 1993 | style="background-color: Template:Party color" width="2px"| | Václav Havel | 109 | 63.37 | Template:Yes2 | — | |||||
| 1998 | style="background-color: Template:Party color" width="2px"| | Václav Havel | 130 | 70.65 | Template:Depends | 146 | 52.3 | Template:Yes2 | — | ||
| 2003 | style="background-color: Template:Party color" width="2px"| | (Petr Pithart) | 128 | 46.55 | Template:Depends | 129 | 48.13 | Template:Depends | 124 | 46.6 | Template:No2 |
| 2008 | style="background-color: Template:Party color" width="2px"| | Václav Klaus<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> | 141 | 50.90 | Template:Depends | 141 | 52.81 | Template:Depends | 141 | 55.95 | Template:Yes2 |
| Direct Election | Candidate | First round result | Second round result | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | %Votes | Result | Votes | %Votes | Result | |||
| 2013 | style="background-color: Template:Party color" width="2px"| | Zuzana Roithová | 255,045 | 4.95 | 6th | supported Karel Schwarzenberg | ||
| 2018 | style="background-color: Template:Party color" width="2px"| | Jiří Drahoš | 1,369,601 | 26.60 | Template:Depends | 2,701,206 | 48.63 | Template:No2 |
| 2023Template:Efn | style="background-color: Template:Party color" width="2px"| | Petr Pavel | 1,975,056 | 35.40 | Template:Depends | 3,358,926 | 58.33 | Template:Yes |
| style="background-color: Template:Party color" width="2px"| | Danuše Nerudová | 777,080 | 13.93 | Template:No | supported Petr Pavel | |||
| style="background-color: Template:Party color" width="2px"| | Pavel Fischer | 376,705 | 6.75 | Template:No | supported Petr Pavel | |||
European Parliament
| Election | List leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | EP Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Zuzana Roithová | 223,383 | 9.57 (#4) | Template:Composition bar | New | EPP-ED |
| 2009 | 180,451 | 7.64 (#4) | Template:Composition bar | Template:Steady 0 | EPP | |
| 2014 | Pavel Svoboda | 150,792 | 9.95 (#5) | Template:Composition bar | Template:Increase 1 | |
| 2019 | 171,723 | 7.24 (#6) | Template:Composition bar | Template:Decrease 1 | ||
| 2024Template:Efn | Alexandr Vondra | 661,250 | 22.27 (#2) | Template:Composition bar | Template:Decrease 1 |
Local elections
| Year | Vote | Vote % | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 8,845,562 | 11,5 | 8,083 |
| 1994 | 9,260,542 Template:Increase | 7.23 Template:Decrease | 7,616Template:Decrease |
| 1998 | 7,206,346Template:Decrease | 11.18Template:Increase | 7,119Template:Decrease |
| 2002 | 7,728,402Template:Increase | 9.58Template:Decrease | 6,013Template:Decrease |
| 2006 | 6,263,980Template:Decrease | 5.76Template:Decrease | 5,049Template:Decrease |
| 2010 | 4,938,960Template:Decrease | 5.47Template:Decrease | 3,738Template:Decrease |
| 2014 | 4,865,956Template:Decrease | 4.91Template:Decrease | 3,792Template:Increase |
| 2018 | 5,599,336Template:Increase | 5.02Template:Increase | 3,633Template:Decrease |
Regional elections
| Year | Vote | Vote % | Seats | Places |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 537,012 | 22.86 | Template:Composition bar | 2nd |
| 2004 | 226,016Template:Decrease | 10.67Template:Decrease | Template:Composition bar | 4thTemplate:Decrease |
| 2008 | 193,911Template:Decrease | 6.65Template:Decrease | Template:Composition bar | 4thTemplate:Steady |
| 2012 | 261,724Template:Increase | 9.87Template:Increase | Template:Composition bar | 4thTemplate:Steady |
| 2016 | 159,610Template:Decrease | 6.30Template:Decrease | Template:Composition bar | 5thTemplate:Decrease |
| 2020 | 252,598Template:Increase | 9.12Template:Increase | Template:Composition bar | 5thTemplate:Decrease |
2020 Czech regional election results
Further reading
Notes
References
External links
- Official website Template:In lang
- English version of the homepage
- Official homepage of Mladí lidovci Template:In lang
Template:Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party Template:Czech political parties Template:European People's Party
- Pages with broken file links
- KDU-ČSL
- Catholic political parties
- Christian democratic parties in the Czech Republic
- Political parties in Czechoslovakia
- Socially conservative parties in the Czech Republic
- 1919 establishments in Czechoslovakia
- Political parties established in 1919
- Member parties of the European People's Party
- Centrist political parties in the Czech Republic
- Regionalist parties in the Czech Republic
- Pro-European political parties in the Czech Republic