Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party

Infobox_Czech_Political_Party
party_name = Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party
party_name_czech = Křesťanská a demokratická unie - Československá strana lidová
colour_html = #BF0202
party_
leader = Jiří Čunek
foundation = 1919
ideology = Social conservatism, Christian Democracy with elements of regionalism
Fiscal: Centre-right
Social: Centrism
international = Centrist Democrat International
european = European People's Party
europarl = European People's Party–European Democrats
colours = Blue, Red and White
headquarters = Prague 2, Palác Charitas
website = [http://www.kdu.cz KDU.cz]
Politics of the Czech RepublicThe Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party ("Křesťanská a demokratická unie – Československá strana lidová" or "KDU–ČSL", also known under colloquial plural "lidovci") is the Czech Republic's Christian democracy political party. In the June 2006 election, the party won 7.2 % of the vote and 13 out of 200 seats, and is currently part of the right-wing coalition government.

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 occupation of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany, Šrámek served as head of Czechoslovak government in exile (in the United Kingdom). After 1945, ČSL was part of the national unity government. 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 played puppet of 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.

Like other parties in the Czech Republic, KDU–ČSL has not been spared corruption scandals.Fact|date=August 2007 Most of these are related to the period of the 1990s when it was in charge of the Ministry of Defense.Fact|date=August 2007

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 February 19, 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).

Jiří Čunek is the party chairman since December 9, 2006.

Election results

Czechoslovak People's Party

*1920 National Assembly: 11.3 % - 33 seats
*1925 National Assembly: 9.7 % - 31 seats
*1929 National Assembly: 8.4 % - 25 seats
*1935 National Assembly: 7.5 % - 22 seats
*1946 National Assembly: 15.6% (20.2%) - 46 seats

since 1990

*1990 Czech National Council: (Christian and Democratic Union 8.4 % - 20 seats)
*1992 Czech National Council: 6.3% - 15 seats
*1996 Chamber of Deputies: 8.1 % - 18 seats
*1996 Senate: 13 seats (whole Senate elected, only one third in next elections)
*1998 Chamber of Deputies: 9 % - 20 seats
*1998 Senate: 5 seats
*2000 Senate: 8 seats
*2002 Chamber of Deputies: (in coalition with Freedom Union-Democratic Union 14.3%) - 22 seats
*2002 Senate: 1 seat
*2004 Senate: 3 seats
*2004 European Parliament: 9.6 % - 2 seats
*2006 Chamber of Deputies: 7.2 % - 13 seats
*2006 Senate: 4 seats

External links

* [http://www.kdu.cz Official website (in Czech)]
** [http://zahranicni.kdu.cz English pages]