Czech Senate election, 2002

Last updated March 22, 2019

Senate elections were held in the Czech Republic on 25 and 26 October 2002, with a second round on 1 and 2 November.^[1] Voter turnout was just 24.1% in the first round and 31.7% in the second.^[2]

The Czech Republic, also known by its short-form name, Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west, Austria to the south, Slovakia to the east and Poland to the northeast. The Czech Republic covers an area of 78,866 square kilometres (30,450 sq mi) with a mostly temperate continental climate and oceanic climate. It is a unitary parliamentary republic, with 10.6 million inhabitants; its capital and largest city is Prague, with 1.3 million residents. Other major cities are Brno, Ostrava, Olomouc and Pilsen. The Czech Republic is a member of the European Union (EU), NATO, the OECD, the United Nations, the OSCE, and the Council of Europe.

Electoral system

One third of the 81-member Senate is elected every two years, giving Senators six year terms. The seats are elected in single-member constituencies using the two-round system.^[4]

The two-round system is a voting method used to elect a single winner, where the voter casts a single vote for their chosen candidate. However, if no candidate receives the required number of votes, then those candidates having less than a certain proportion of the votes, or all but the two candidates receiving the most votes, are eliminated, and a second round of voting is held.

Background

Czech Social Democratic Party held 11 Seats in the elected part of Senate. Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party held second highest number of seats - 6. Bothe parties were part of governing coalition. Opposition Civic Democratic Party held only 5 Seats. Election was considered improtant due to 2003 Presidential election. Czech Social Democratic Party was considered front-runner of the election while the Civic Democratic Party was expected to be second strongest party.^[5]

The Czech Social Democratic Party is a social-democratic political party in the Czech Republic. It holds 15 seats in the Chamber of Deputies following the 2017 legislative election, losing 35 seats. The party has been led by Jan Hamáček since 2018. It has been a junior coalition party within a minority cabinet since June 2018, and was a senior coalition party from 1998 to 2006 and from 2013 to 2017.

The Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party (Czech: Křesťanská a demokratická unie – Československá strana lidová, KDU–ČSL, often shortened to lidovci is a Christian-democratic political party in the Czech Republic. The party took part in almost every Czech Government since 1990. In the June 2006 election, the party won 7.2% of the vote and 13 out of 200 seats; but in the 2010 election, this dropped to 4.4% and they lost all their seats. The party regained its parliamentary standing in the 2013 legislative election, winning 14 seats in the new parliament, thereby becoming the first party ever to return to the Chamber of Deputies after dropping out.

Composition of contested seats prior to the elections

	Ideology	Leader	Seats
Czech Social Democratic Party	Social democracy	Vladimír Špidla	11 / 27
KDU-ČSL	Christian democracy	Cyril Svoboda	6 / 27
Civic Democratic Party	Conservatism	Václav Klaus	5 / 27
Civic Democratic Alliance	Liberalism	Jiřina Nováková	3 / 27
Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia	Communism	Miroslav Grebeníček	1 / 27
Independents			1 / 27

Opinion polls

Date	Polling firm	ČSSD	KDU-ČSL	ODS	ODA	KSČM	US–DEU
Date	Polling firm
2 November 2002	Result	7	1	9	0	1	1
7 October 2002	SC&C^[6]	12	4	4	0	1	1
November 1996	Previous election	11	6	5	3	1	0

Results

Party	First round		Second round		Seats		+/–
Party	Votes	%	Votes	%	Won	Overall	+/–
Civic Democratic Party	165,794	24.9	284,537	34.6	9	26	+4
Czech Social Democratic Party	122,397	18.4	224,386	27.3	7	11	–4
Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia	110,171	16.5	57,434	7.0	1	3	0
KDU-ČSL	58,858	8.8	47,049	5.7	1	15	–4
Freedom Union – Democratic Union	48,879	7.3	36,294	4.4	8	26	+4
Union of Independents	44,112	6.6	45,096	5.5
Independent Candidate	29,776	4.5	36,021	4.4
Independents	27,533	4.1	23,812	2.9
Independents and others	58,935	8.8	67,658	8.2
Invalid/blank votes	7,366	–	35,204	–	–	–	–
Total	673,821	100	857,491	100	27	81	0
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

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References

↑ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p471 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
↑ Nohlen & Stöver, p472
↑ "Nezávislí útočí". iDNES.cz. 3 November 2002. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
↑ Electoral system IPU
↑ "V senátních volbách jde i o prezidenta". iDNES.cz. 18 October 2002. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
↑ "Průzkum výsledků senátních voleb". www.kurzy.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 7 May 2018.

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[DN-1] Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p471 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7

[2] Nohlen & Stöver, p472

[Nezávislí_útočí-3] "Nezávislí útočí". iDNES.cz. 3 November 2002. Retrieved 7 May 2018.

[4] Electoral system IPU

[V_senátních_volbách_jde_i_o_prezidenta-5] "V senátních volbách jde i o prezidenta". iDNES.cz. 18 October 2002. Retrieved 7 May 2018.

[Průzkum_výsledků_senátních_voleb-6] "Průzkum výsledků senátních voleb". www.kurzy.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 7 May 2018.

v t e Elections and referendums in the Czech Republic
Presidential elections	2013 2018 Next
Legislative elections	1971 1976 1981 1986 1990 1992 1996 1998 2002 2006 2010 2013 2017 Next
Senate elections	1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 by-elections
Regional elections	2000 2004 2008 2012 2016
Municipal elections	1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018
European elections	2004 2009 2014 2019
Referendums	2003
See also: Elections in Austria-Hungary Czechoslovakia Czechoslovak presidential election Indirect presidential elections Opinion polling