Jiří Paroubek

Jiří Paroubek
6th Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
In office 25 April 2005 – 16 August 2006
Preceded by	Stanislav Gross
Succeeded by	Mirek Topolánek
Member of the Chamber of Deputies for Ústí nad Labem
Incumbent
Assumed office 3 June 2006
Chairman of Czech Social Democratic Party
In office 2006 – 29 May 2010
Preceded by	Stanislav Gross (acting)
Succeeded by	Bohuslav Sobotka (acting)
Minister for Regional Development of the Czech Republic
In office 2004–2005
Preceded by	Pavel Němec
Succeeded by	Radko Martínek
Personal details
Born	21 August 1952 (1952-08-21) (age 59) Olomouc, Czechoslovakia
Political party	National Socialists – 21st Century Left
Other political affiliations	Czech National Social Party (1970–1986) Czech Social Democratic Party (1989–2011)
Spouse(s)	Zuzana Paroubková (1979–2007) Petra Paroubková (since 2007)
Children	Jiří Margarita
Residence	Prague
Religion	Czechoslovak Hussite Church
Signature
Website	paroubek.cz

Jiří Paroubek (Czech pronunciation: [ˈjɪr̝iː ˈparoʊ̯bɛk] ( listen); born 21 August 1952) is a Czech politician, who served as the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic from 25 April 2005 to 16 August 2006. He was also Chairman of the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD), but resigned from his position immediately after the result of the 2010 Legislative Election was announced on 29 May 2010. Although the Social Democrats became the largest party in the Czech parliament after the election, Paroubek was not able to form a governing coalition.^[1]

Early life and career

Paroubek was born in Olomouc. He entered politics in 1970 at the age of 18. That year he joined the Czechoslovak Socialist Party, a member party of the Czechoslovak National Front.^{[citation needed]} He reached the lower levels of the party leadership before leaving the party in 1986.^{[citation needed]}

He served his military service (one year) as an army food services supervisor in the southern Bohemian city of Prachatice.^{[citation needed]} After graduating in 1976, Paroubek worked as a manager for several state companies including the restaurants holding (Restaurace a jídelny).^{[citation needed]}

Following the Velvet Revolution in November 1989 Paroubek joined the refounded Czech Social Democratic Party. Then chairman Jiří Horák awarded him an executive post. In 1993 he stood for chairmanship of the party but was defeated by Miloš Zeman. In 2000, he placed fourth in elections to the Senate of the Czech Republic in the Prague 8 district, ending up even behind the Communist candidate.^[2] Paroubek served in high position in the municipal government of Prague for over 14 years.

Role in the Czech legislative election, 2006

Paroubek was selected as socialist election leader for 2006 and in the mid-May Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) congress was voted the new chairman by an uncontested 90%. The election campaign was highly contrastive, especially because of strong animosities between the ČSSD, the conservative Civic Democratic Party (ODS), and their respective party leaders.

The so called "Kubice Report" had an important impact on the elections and especially the post-elections talks^{[citation needed]}. Jan Kubice was a high police officer for investigation of organized crimes. His report accused Paroubek of contacts within the criminal underground.^{[citation needed]} The report was initially classified and was presented to the proper commission of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament, but was made public four days before polls. No information from this report has been proven.^{[citation needed]} The publication of the report caused Paroubek to make a strong statement immediately after the elections. He stated "ODS did not abhor breaking many laws and made it on purpose four days before the elections to avoid establishing of this evident and repeated breaking of legal order. (...) I feel a duty to announce that democracy in this country incurred a hard intervention comparable maybe only with February 1948. Only with the difference that a blue totalitarianism looms."^[3] Paroubek later publicly apologized for these comments.^[4]

Although the ČSSD's results in the pre-election polls were at just 10% when Stanislav Gross resigned as Prime Minister of the Czech Republic,^[5] the ČSSD received 32.3% in the elections and finished runner-up to the ODS.

On 9 September Paroubek released a document claiming it showed that the ODS planned to discredit him.^[6] Paroubek refused to name the source of this paper.

On 7 October 2011, Paroubek left the ČSSD and in the same month founded the National Socialists – 21st Century Left.

See also

Jiří Paroubek's Cabinet

References

1. ^ "Czech SocDem leader quits after poor election result". České Noviny (Czech Press Agency). 2010-05-29. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSPRG00416620100529?type=marketsNews. Retrieved 3 July 2010. 
2. ^ "Election into the Senate of the Czech Republic held on 12.11.2000". volby.cz. 2000-11-12. http://www.volby.cz/pls/senat/se2111?xjazyk=EN&xdatum=20001112&xobvod=23. Retrieved 3 July 2010. 
3. ^ (See also video-file link in the bottom External links section.)
4. ^ http://www.novinky.cz/domaci/152546-paroubek-se-omluvil-za-slova-o-stupidnich-volicich.html
5. ^ "Vývoj popularity stran od posledních voleb" (in Czech). Lidovky.zpravy.cz. 2006-03-16. http://lidovky.zpravy.cz/ln_volby.asp?r=ln_volby&c=A060316_145137_ln_volby_bat. Retrieved 2010-03-05. 
6. ^ http://zpravy.idnes.cz/domaci.asp?c=A060909_144911_domaci_lja

External links

• http://www.paroubek.cz – personal website
• Pre-election profile at Radio Prague website, together with Mirek Topolánek
• Controversial post-election speech (video)

Government offices
Preceded by Pavel Němec	Minister of Regional Development of the Czech Republic 2004–2005	Succeeded by Radko Martínek
Preceded by Stanislav Gross	Prime Minister of the Czech Republic 2005–2006	Succeeded by Mirek Topolánek

Persondata
Name	Paroubek, Jiri
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	21 August 1952
Place of birth	Olomouc, Czechoslovakia
Date of death
Place of death