Elections
to the Chamber of Deputies

Elections to the Parliament of the Czech Republic

According to the Constitution of the Czech Republic, elections to both chambers of the Parliament of the Czech Republic are held on the basis of general, equal and direct suffrageby secret ballot. Parliamentary elections are open to any citizen of the Czech Republic over the age of 18 who is legally competent and whose freedom is not restricted for the sake of public health protection. Elections are called by the President of the Republic and are always held on two days (Friday and Saturday). Voting takes place in permanent electoral districts, but it is also possible abroad at Czech embassies and consulates. Neither correspondence voting nor voting by electronic means has been introduced in the Czech Republic. Election regulations are covered in detail in Act No. 247/1995 Coll., on Elections to the Parliament of the Czech Republic.
The election regulations have two essential components. The first component is the organisation of the election process, whereas the second is the electoral system, i.e. the method of allocating seats to political parties and candidates on the basis of the number of votes obtained. This system has undergone substantial changes during the independent existence of the Czech Republic.

The Chamber of Deputies has 200 deputies elected for four-year terms. The passive right to vote (the right to be elected) is limited to citizens of the Czech Republic who have reached the age of 21. For elections to the Chamber of Deputies, the Constitution stipulates the electoral system of proportional representation.

Organisation of the Election Process

Elections to both chambers of the Parliament of the Czech Republic are announced by the President of the Republic no later than ninety days before they are held. The decision on the announcement of the elections is published in the Collection of Laws. The date of the announcement of the elections to the Parliament of the Czech Republic is the distribution date of the volume of the Collection of Laws publishing the decision to announce the elections to the Parliament of the Czech Republic. With the announcement of the elections, the deadlines for the actions forming part of the preparatory phase of theelections begin to run.

Eligible voters for parliamentary elections are registered in a permanent electoral roll. Pursuant to Section 28 of Act No.491/2001 Coll., on the Elections to Municipal Councils, the permanent list of voters is kept by the municipal authority for voters who are registered for permanent residence in that municipality. Each voter may be registered in only one permanent list. A voter has the right to check whether he or she is on the list and to request that the data be completed or corrected. Within 48 hours, the municipal authority must comply with the request or inform the applicant in writing of the reasons why the request cannot be complied with. The decision of the municipality may be appealed to the competent administrative court of the seat of the municipal authority. The lists also include persons who have been prevented from exercising their right to vote; this circumstance is indicated in a note. Two days before the day of the election, the authority closes the permanent list. A voter who is not included in the list on the election day and who proves his or her right to vote in the electoral district shall be added to the list by the district electoral commission afterwards and shall be allowed to vote.

In addition to the permanent list, there is a special list of voters who are currently in the municipal district in a hospital, a maternity hospital, a sanatorium, a social care institution or a similar institution or facility, or in a police cell, a place of detention, a place of imprisonment, or who are voting in the municipal district on voter identification cards.
Special lists are also kept by the embassies and consulates of the Czech Republic abroad for voters who reside outside the republic or who vote at the embassy or consulate on a voter card.

A voter identification card is issued to a voter who does not wish to vote on the election day at the place where he or she is registered on the permanent or special list of electors. During the elections to the Chamber of Deputies, the voter identification card allows the voter to vote in any electoral district. During the elections to the Senate, a voter may vote only in a constituency belonging to the electoral district where the Senate elections are announced and in whose territorial district he or she is registered as a permanent resident. If the voter does not reside in the territory of the Czech Republic, he or she may vote for a senator in any constituency belonging to the electoral district where the election is announced.
A voter may apply for a voter identification card in writing with a certified signature or in person at the competent municipal office. Both written and personal applications for the card are accepted at the earliest from the date of the announcement of the elections. The voter’s written application for a voter identification card must be delivered to the office at least seven days before the election day. A personal application for a voter identification card must be submitted by the voter or the person authorised by him orher before the closure of the permanent list, i.e. 48 hours before the elections. The card may be handed over in person to the voter or to the person authorised, who shall produce a power of attorney with a certified signature of the voter applying for the voter identification card, or it may be sent to the voter.

The organisation of the elections is financed from the state budget. Parties that meet the conditions set by law are entitled to reimbursement of election costs. The election campaign is financed by political parties from their own resources.
The Act on Elections to the Parliament of the Czech Republic regulates the reimbursement of election expenses. The reimbursement of election costs to political parties is primarily to motivate political parties to participate in elections. A larger number of candidate entities increases the manifesto and personal offer of the future elected political elite. The reimbursement of election costs thus encourages the preservation of the pluralism of political parties and the entry of new political entities into political competition.

Electoral System

The total number of valid votes cast throughout the state is divided by the total number of elected deputies (200) and this quotient is rounded to the nearest whole number. The result is the so-called republic mandate number, which indicates how many votes are needed to elect one deputy on average nationwide. The total number of valid votes cast in each electoral region is divided by the republic mandate number. The whole number resulting from this division represents the number of seats allocated to each electoral region. If not all the seats are distributed, the remaining seats are allocated to the electoral region with the largest remainder. The electoral regions are the same areas as self-governing regions and the area of the Capital City of Prague.

At the beginning of the allocation of seats to parties, the so-called electoral clause is applied.
Political parties and movements that have won at least 5% of valid votes at the national level, two-member coalitions that have won at least 8% of the valid votes, and three- and more-member coalitions that have won at least 11% of the valid votes advance to the first tally. If at least two coalitions or one coalition and one political party or movement or two political parties or movements do not advance, the electoral clause is reduced to 4% for parties and movements, 7% for two-member coalitions and 10% for three- and multi-member coalitions. If the condition of the minimum number of parties, movements and their coalitions advancing to the tally is not met in this case either, the electoral clause is reduced by another percentage point for all entities. This reduction may only occur once.
Political parties or movements or coalitions that have notreached the specified percentage of votes do not proceed tothe tally and do not win any seats.

Currently, the mathematical method used for the conversion of votes into mandates is the Imperiali quota. It replaced the d’Hondt method pursuant to Act No. 189/2021 Coll. after it was abolished by the ruling of the Constitutional Court Pl. 44/17.

In the first round, the number of valid votes cast (V) in the constituency is divided by the number of seats (S) to be allocated in the constituency, increased by 2:
Q= V / (S+2)
The result is called the quota (Q). A party wins as many seats as the number of times the electoral quota is contained in the number of votes won by the party in the constituency. The purpose of adding the number 2 to the number of seats to be allocated in a given constituency is to allow more seats to be allocated in the first round and thus to reduce the number of unallocated seats to be allocated in the second round.

Seats not allocated in the first round are allocated in the second round on the basis of the remaining votes of the political parties, movements and coalitions. The remaining votes of each entity are added together and divided by the number of seats not allocated in the first round, increased by one. The result is the republic electoral number. A party or coalition obtains as many seats as the number of times the republic electoral number is contained in the sum of the remaining votes. If more than one seat is thus allocated, the seat is deducted from the entity that had the smallest remainder of the division in the second round. The seats are given to the parties in the constituencies in which they had the largest remainders in the first round.

The result of the elections may also be affected by the nature of the candidate list, i.e. the voters’ possibility to change the order of candidates within the list of one political party, movement or coalition.
A voter may mark the names of up to four candidates on the ballot paper with preferential votes. If a candidate receives a number of preferential votes corresponding to at least 5% of the total number of valid votes cast for that political party, political movement or coalition within the electoral region, the seat is given to that candidate in preference. If this condition is met by more than one candidate, the ranking shall be based on the highest number of preferential votes received; in the case of an equality of preferential votes, the original position of the candidate on the ballot paper is decisive. If there are not enough preferential votes, the seats within each political party, political movement and coalition are given to the candidates in the order in which they appear on the ballot paper.

Judicial Protection

Early in the electoral process, it is possible to seek judicial protection against errors in electoral rolls. A voter is entitled to bring an action if the competent authority fails to correct an error in the electoral roll after being notified. In this case, the decision is made by the competent regional administrative court of the seat of the authority that maintains the list of voters.

At the next stage, judicial protection may be sought in respect of decisions related to candidacy. The court decides on the review of a decision to reject a candidate list, to reject an application for registration, to remove a candidate from a candidate list, to register a candidatelist or to apply for registration. The candidate,be it an entity or an individual, may bring an action within two days of the delivery of the decision. The competent court is the competent administrative court. The court must give its decision within fifteen days. Its decision cannot be challenged by a legal remedy. However, the parties to the case may lodge a constitutional complaint with the Constitutional Court.
Furthermore, administrative courts are called upon to ensure the proper conduct of elections. A petition for the annulment of the election of a deputy or senator may be filed by any citizen registered in the permanent list of voters in the constituency where the deputy or senator was elected, further by any political party, movement, coalition or, in the case of a senator, by an independent candidate if they have submitted a candidate list or applied for registration there.
The petitioner must file the petition within ten days from the announcement of the election by the State Election Commission. The petitioner may also file a petition for nullity of the voting or of the election, but only in the case of Senate elections. In the case of elections to the Chamber of Deputies, it is possible to seek only the annulment of the election of an individual candidate, not the annulment of the voting or the elections. This difference in the scope of judicial protection in the elections to the two chambers was introduced by Act No.204/2000 Coll., significantly amending the Act on Elections, and means that the court does not have the power to declare the elections to the Chamber of Deputies to be invalid as a whole.

The Act on Elections to the Parliament of the Czech Republic provides that a petition for annulment may be filed if the petitioner believes that the provisions of the Act on Elections have been violated in a manner that may have affected the results (of the voting, the elections, or the election of a candidate). According to the Explanatory Memorandum, the cases may include any violation of the Act that may have hindered the proper conduct of the election and thus the results of the election or vote. The jurisdiction belongs to the Supreme Administrative Court, which shall decide by order within twenty days after it has received the petition.

The Constitutional Court has jurisdiction to decide on a legal remedy concerning the verification of the election of a deputy or senator. The relationship between judicial protection pursuant to the Act on Elections to the Parliament and the proceedings before the Constitutional Court is such that the proceedings before the Constitutional Court are essentially appeal proceedings against the proceedings on a petition for nullity of the election, the elections and the voting. The Constitutional Court has so far followed several principles in its decisions. It proceeds from the principle that the courts should generally interfere as little as possible with the will of the electorate. It indicates that the exercise of the right to vote is preferred to strčit adherence to the details of the Act on Elections provided that the results of the elections have not been affected by illegal conduct.

Electoral Campaign

The Act on Elections to the Parliament regulates in particular the conduct of the election campaign and its financing. The regulation of election campaign is to contribute to the creation of a level playing field for all candidates, especially for those who do not hold public office and may thus be at a natural disadvantage in their promotion. The second reason for the regulation of election campaign is to limit the use of unfair means in the form of the publication of false information which, given the limited time available, cannot be fought by normal means.

The law establishes the exact moment of the beginning of the election campaign, which is the day of the announcement of the elections to the Parliament of the Czech Republic. The election campaign ends on the day of the announcement of the overall results of the elections to the Parliament of the Czech Republic.

According to a general principle, the election campaign must be conducted honestly and fairly. In particular, no false information may be published about candidates and the political parties or coalitions in whose lists they are included.

The Act on Elections to the Parliament of the Czech Republic stipulates that the mayor of each municipality may reserve an area for poster display sixteen days before the elections. On the basis of the principle of equality, the area must be available to all candidates. For the elections to the Chamber of Deputies, registered electoral entities have fourteen hours of free broadcasting reserved on CzechTelevision and Czech Radio each. This time is divided equally between the candidate entities. Broadcasting must be completed forty-eight hours before the beginning of the elections.

Electioneering spread through the communication media or through large-scale advertisements must include information on its commissioner and its producer. Candidate political parties, political movements and coalitions must indicate by name or abbreviation the means of electioneering used by them. (Although the legal provisions speak in parallel about political parties and political movements, the law imposes the same obligations on both of them.)

No later than five days after the date of the announcement of the elections, each candidate political party, political movement or coalition must open an account for campaign financing that will allow free and continuous access for third parties to view a summary of payment transactions in this account. The funds deposited in the election account may only be used to finance the election campaign. The election campaign may only be financed from the funds deposited in the said account. The withdrawal of cash from the election account and its subsequent use to finance the election campaign are recorded in the accounting system. The names and other details of natural and legal persons who have contributed funds to the election account are recorded.

The candidate political party, political movement or coalition must notify the Office for the Supervision of the Management of Political Parties and Political Movements of the address of its website where information on the financing of the election campaign is published and which contains access to the bank account.

The expenditure on the election campaign for the elections to the Chamber of Deputies must not exceed CZK 90 million. This amount includes funds paid by the candidate political party as well as amounts paid by third parties with its knowledge. If some performance forming part of an election campaign has been provided free of charge or at a lower than normal price, the above-mentioned amount shall include its normal price in accordance with the law governing state property valuation.

Within 90 days from the date of the announcement of the overall election results, political parties shall publish on their websites a report on the financing of the election campaign. The report shall be published by the candidate political parties on a form whose template shall be established by a decree of the Office for the Supervision of the Management of Political Parties and Political Movements. Within 90 days from the date of the announcement of the election results, the candidate political party must deliver to the Office all accounting related to the election campaign and the campaign finance report signed by a person authorised to act on behalf of the candidate political party.

Electioneering is prohibited in polling stations. The Act on Elections to Parliament of the Czech Republic prohibits certain activities in order to create a level playing field for all candidates. In particular, it regulates the publication of pre-election polls. It is an offence to publish pre-election and election polls during the period beginning three days before the election day and ending at the close of voting. The offence shall be dealt with by the regional authority competent for the place of residence of the natural person, for whom the fine for this offence may be up to CZK 30,000. If such data are published by a legal entity, it may be fined up to CZK 500,000 by the regional authority competent for the place where the legal person has its registered office.

The Act on Elections to the Parliament of the Czech Republic entrusts the supervision of the financing of election campaigns to the Office for the Supervision of the Management of Political Parties and Political Movements. The Office investigates offences and administrative torts of legal entities and natural persons engaged in business and it imposes sanctions.