Radical Left lost one seat
Czech Republic
Election Report 2014
The official results are as follows:
Participation 1 528 250 out of 8 395 132 voters, i.e. 18.20% (99.2% valid votes).
This is a record low; both in 2009 and 2004 there were over 2 million voters (which is also a very low figure).
Parties and elected MEPs
ANO (populist, in government) 16.13%, 4 seats (Telicka, Jezek, Charanzová, Dlabajová)
TOP09 (neoliberal, opposition) 15.95%, 4 seats (Niedermayer, Pospisil, Polcak, Stetina)
CSSD (social democrats, in government) 14.17%, 4 seats (Keller, Sehnalova, Poc, Poche)
KSCM (= CPBM, opposition) 166 478 votes, 10.98%, 3 seats (Konecna, Mastalka, Ransdorf)
KDU-CSL (Christian, opposition) 9.95%, 3 seats (Svoboda, Sojdrova, Zdechovsky)
ODS (neoliberal, opposition) 7.67%, 2 seats (Zahradil, Tosenovsky)
Svobodni (= "Free", eurosceptic/right-wing/neoliberal) 5.24%, 1 seat (Mach)
39 parties participated in this election (the highest number ever seen), but only 3 of them managed to achieve higher than 3% of the vote:Pirates (with 4.78% they fell short of the required 5%), Green Party (3.77%), and Usvit přímé demokracie T. Okamury (= Dawn of the direct democracy of Tomio Okamura, another eurosceptic party) which won 3.12%.
The remaining parties were unable to cross the 1% mark, the best among them being KSC (= Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, "to the left" of CPBM) with 8500 votes, two extreme right-wing parties ("Workers Party of Social Justice") and "Right wing" (the official name fills a whole page) received approx. 8 000 votes each.
The winner was – as indicated by polls – the party ANO, owned by billionaire Andrej Babis, which, shortly after being established in 2011, –went on to almost win the last parliamentary elections. He is now the most visible member of the government (Minister of Finance). Moreover, the party also managed to recruit Pavel Telicka, who is – regardless of his past track record– considered by many as competent and capable of representing the Czech Republic. In fact, their result is somewhat lower than expected and lower than in the last parliamentary elections (both in absolute numbers and percentage terms).
The main governing party, the social democrats, posted a similar result. In fact, these two parties were very close last year too, except this year their positions have been reversed . One remarkable fact is that the leader of their list, the strongly left-leaning ecologist and sociologist Keller, was – in absolute numbers – the second most successful of all candidates in terms of individual votes (over 50 000 votes; the best result from candidates ranked second, was achieved by Pospisil of the TOP party, formerly the Minister of Justice for the ODS)
The main opposition party TOP09 improved their percentage of the vote compared with the last parliamentary elections (but also received far fewer votes than most other parties).
The results for CPBM are somewhat lower than expected, and lower compared to the last EP elections (and losing one seat is, to some degree, disappointing), but they are not surprising. In brief, this is due to a lack of a personality with some appeal "outside the party ranks and supporters" (in the mold of Vladimír Remek), large abstention among the usual CPBM voters (in part due to an anti-EU stance) and the ability of the social-democratic leader Keller to attract some of the traditional radical-Left voters.Jirí Hudecek, member of ExB EL, vice chairman of SDS (Party of Democratic Socialism, CZ)
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Results 2014
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Preliminary Results 2014
Historical Low Turnout: 18,2 %
ANO 2011: 16,13 % / 4 seats (0)
TOP 09: 15.95 % / 4 seats (0)
CSSD (Social democrats): 14,17 % / 4 seats (7)
CPBM (radical left): 10,98 % / 3 seats (4)
KDU-CSL (Christian democrats): 9,95 % / 3 seats (2)
ODS: 7,67 % / 2 seats (9)
SSO (new subject – euro sceptic): 5,24 % / 1 seats (0)Czech radical Left „lost“ one seat but the Czech Republic had to reduce its seats for one (from 22 to 21 seats).
Correspondent: Jirí Málek, SPED, CZ
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17:24 – Brief information on Czech (and Slovak) European election
European elections in the Czech Republic were held on Friday and Saturday, in Slovakia only on Saturday.
The most significant (as there are not available results) seems to be the low participation. If Slovakia was the country with the smallest turnout in both previous European election (less than 20 %), the Czech Republic reached about 28 % in 2004 and 2009. Now it seems that the turnout should be less than 20 %. It brings a great deal of uncertainty in the estimation of results.
Slovakia – it is supposed that Smer – Slovak social democrats will be a winner but it could be less than in last election. There is no chance for any radical left parties or movements to advance in EP.
The Czech Republic – the result of Czech radical left – CPBM (which includes also two members of SDS – party of democratic socialism) could be lower than the result in parliamentary election (and also lower than actual polls for national elections). The reason is that the views of the voters of radical left are euro skeptical (in general) and as an expression of this attitude is the absence in this election.
There is a public opinion survey that analyzed the relationship to the European Union from this week).
Questions:
Election are useless, nothing will change - agree 48 %
There is a chance something changed - agree 43 %
How is the EU membership of CZ reflected in your life?
in no wise – 49 %
Positively – 29 %
Negatively – 19 %The euro skeptical position has support in all social groups.
Jirí Málek, SPED, CZ
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IN POWER: CSSD (centre-left)
Radical left party in the EP: 4 seats of 22
The Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSCM) is the most important party of the far left in a former soviet republic. It reached 14.9% of votes in the 2013 general elections.
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Pre-election Overview
The Czech Left on the Eve of the European Election – can we still hope for a good result?
Even before the camping really started, the candidates for the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (CPBM) were afraid of facing an uphill battle. Several factors may negatively influence the electoral outcome and the Party might fall back behind the last result, when four MEPs were elected.
Firstly, the popular former leader of the list, the Czech cosmonaut Vladimir Remek is unable to run for another term (being a new Ambassador to Russia) and the party does not have any comparable substitute. Secondly, the Czech Social Democratic Party selected a strongly left-leaning ecologist, who might attract many former communist voters.
But as the election date comes nearer, the prospects are somewhat less dim. Paradoxically, the improvement might come from the recent uncertainty surrounding the situation in Ukraine. The CPBM is now the only relevant Czech political party resisting the prevailing bashing of Russia in media and supporting (however cautiously) the more balanced view. In particular, the Social Democratic leader alienated himself to many left voters by evasive talk, when asked about Ukraine.
Of course, the outcome of EP election is extremely difficult to predict. The usually high abstention makes the result open to many accidental influences. But we can be moderately optimistic.
Jiri Hudecek, Vice-chair of the Party of Democratic Socialism (SDS), EL ExB Member, and candidate for EP election (on the CPBM list).
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Election Results 2009
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