Volume 11 Number 3

Summer 2002

Constitutional Watch
     A country-by-country update on constitutional politics in Eastern Europe and the ex-USSR

Czech Republic - On July 9 a new government was formed with the signing of a coalition agreement between the Czech Social Democratic Party (CSDP) and the Coalition, which comprises the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Freedom Union-Democratic Union (FU-DU). CSDP received the largest share of votes in parliamentary elections held on June 14-15, with 30.2 percent, giving it 70 seats in the 200-member lower house of parliament. However, this margin fell well short of a majority, requiring either a coalition or a minority government. During the campaign, Vladimir Spidla had all but ruled out the possibility of renewing the increasingly unpopular "opposition agreement," which had enabled a minority CSDP government to govern with the support of the right-wing Civic Democratic Party (CDP). This left FU-DU and CDU as the most likely candidates for a new coalition government. CDP had the second best showing in the June elections, with 24.5 percent of the vote and 58 seats; however, it will now become a genuine opposition party for the first time. FU-DU and CDU together earned 31 seats, fewer than the unreformed Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (CPBM), at 41 seats or 18.5 percent. The new coalition government has a precarious one-seat majority in parliament, with a total of 101 out of 200 seats.

The recent elections were a resounding defeat for the right and center-right parties-CDP and the Coalition-both of which lost seats in parliament's lower house. CDP lost five seats, compared with the parliament elected in 1998, and the parties making up the Coalition lost a combined total of eight seats. The returns were especially disappointing for CDP, which had played a considerable role in the prior government, under the aegis of the opposition agreement, and had been confident of outright victory throughout the campaign.

CSDP's representation in parliament also declined, though by a more modest four seats. The big winner, in the recent contest, was CPBM, which gained 17 seats in its strongest showing by far since 1989. CPBM, with its loyal and disciplined supporters, benefited from the low voter turnout, down significantly to 58 percent as compared with 74 percent in 1998. In addition, CPBM was able to capitalize on the climate of extreme nationalism, generated in large part by CDP's campaign rhetoric regarding the Benes decrees (see Czech Update, EECR, Vol. 11, Nos. 1/2, Winter/Spring 2002, and below) and the encroachment on national sovereignty by the EU. CPBM has the most credibility on these issues, having long opposed EU and NATO entry unequivocally as well as defending the Benes decrees. The party could only benefit from the prominence of these themes in the campaign. Despite its strong electoral showing, however, CPBM was never a likely candidate for a governing coalition. The deep, historical antagonisms between the Communists and Social Democrats were formalized by CSDP in a 1995 party resolution forbidding any participation in government with CPBM.

Thus, in spite of the fact that self-described leftist parties now hold a majority in the parliament's lower house for the first time since 1989, the new government will represent an uneasy alliance of center-left and center-right elements. Its margin of control in parliament will be very thin indeed. However, the stability of the government is likely to be enhanced by the dominance in the Coalition of CDU, which is much closer to CSDP on social-welfare issues than the more neoliberal FU-DU. The latter's poor electoral showing-FU-DU holds only eight of the Coalition's seats-makes it a minor partner in the Coalition. Even though FU-DU was able, with the aid of the two independent deputies in the Coalition, to reach the ten-deputy minimum for forming a parliamentary group of its own, it is unlikely to drop out of the governing coalition and into an insignificant opposition. Ultimately, the unity of the coalition is based on the strongly shared goal of EU entry. Nonetheless, the precariousness of the ruling coalition's one vote majority was highlighted when, on July 8, CSDP deputy Jan Kavan was elected to the presidency of the fifty-seventh UN General Assembly, which will require him to be absent for many parliamentary votes.

After a couple of weeks of negotiations, during which time the leader of the FU-DU Hana Marvanova resigned in protest, a coalition agreement was hammered out that ensures CSDP almost complete control of the government. The party retained 11 cabinet positions, including most of the major portfolios, while the Coalition parties received six-three for CDU and two for FU-DU, with one independent. The only significant portfolio to go to the Coalition parties was the foreign ministry, which was given to the CDU's party leader Cyril Svoboda. The cabinet includes two women and is the youngest in Czech history, with an average age of 42; there are seven ministers under 40, and not one over 60. More controversially, however, the coalition agreement also stipulates that government policy will be decided by majority vote, with no veto power for the smaller coalition members, thereby limiting the Coalition parties' ability to influence the agenda. The first challenge to government unity came quickly, on July 18, when Foreign Minister Svoboda demanded control of the intelligence services, traditionally part of the foreign minister's portfolio. Two days earlier, Prime Minister Spidla had announced he would retain supervision of these services. On July 24, it was announced that the government committee on intelligence activity, as well as the National Security Council, would be headed by Spidla, but that the committee would also include two CDU members-Svoboda and Transportation Minister Milan Simonovsky.

The unity of the two-party Coalition itself-originally meant to provide an electoral alternative to CSDP and CDP and the opposition agreement-is seriously in doubt, following the election. CDU and FU-DU have decided to run on separate lists in the November Senate elections, although they will not run candidates against each other in the same constituencies. The two parties reached an agreement whereby CDU would run candidates in the six constituencies it already represents in the Senate and an additional six, while FU-DU would run candidates in the remaining 15. The Four Party Coalition, to which the present Coalition is the successor (see the previous EECR Update), first entered the political scene with a major victory in the 2000 Senate elections. The fragments of the original coalition are, however, unlikely to repeat that success.

After its disappointing showing in the elections, CDP is not adjusting easily to being in the opposition for the first time. Party chairman Vaclav Klaus did not resign following the elections, at first stating that he would do so at a national party conference to be held in September, ahead of the November Senate and local elections. He then said that he would resign, with the rest of the party leadership, at a national party conference rescheduled for December. Klaus has also suggested that he may seek reelection as leader at the December conference. In contrast, CDP's deputy chairman, Premysl Sobotka, resigned on June 18, calling for a new party leadership before the fall elections and criticizing the current leadership for not responding appropriately to the electoral defeat.

During the campaign, the resignation of Prague's Lord Mayor Jan Kasl from both City Hall and CDP was a major political event. Kasl harshly criticized the conduct of his party colleagues for putting their personal interests above the interests of their fellow citizens. Kasl had already lost CDP support, at an earlier point, when he spoke out against corruption at City Hall. At the end of June, Kasl announced the formation of a new party-the European Democrats-that will run in the local elections in Prague, in November, and expects to be active at the national level in 18 months.

On July 11, the new parliament, convening for the first time on July 9, elected Lubomir Zaoralek (CSDP) to the position of speaker. Zaoralek was elected in a second ballot after falling two votes short of a majority in the first round. He had received only 99 votes in the first ballot, though well ahead of Klaus's 76 votes. He picked up the additional two votes in the second round, when two CSDP holdouts threw in their support, to secure a narrow victory. On July 16, CPBM deputy Vojtech Filip was also elected a deputy speaker, by 105 votes, marking the first time since 1989 that a Communist has held an official parliamentary post.

More importantly, the new parliament must also elect a new president to succeed Vaclav Havel, whose mandate expires in January 2003. There had been considerable discussion of possibly introducing direct election of the president, which would require a constitutional amendment. Indeed, Prime Minister Spidla had declared his support for such an amendment, in June, but added that the amendment process would take time and that the next president would have to be elected by parliament. At this point, the two main candidates are Otakar Motejl-the current ombudsman and former chief judge of the Supreme Court-from CSDP, and Petr Pithart-the current chairman of the Senate-from the Coalition. Klaus had been considered a likely candidate for the presidency, but his chances of victory are significantly reduced with CDP now in opposition.

As of August 6, the Czech Republic had closed 25 chapters of the acquis communautaire, with 5 remaining to be negotiated: competition policy, transportation, agriculture, institutions, and finance and budgetary rules. The Czech Republic's chief EU negotiator, Pavel Telicka, described the agriculture chapter (especially the issues of subsidies, production quotas, and market-protection measures) and transportation chapter as presenting the greatest difficulties. The new governing coalition brings together parties that have strong commitments to entering the EU on schedule. Still, the government will have several delicate issues to confront as it progresses toward EU membership, including defusing controversies with Germany and Austria over the Benes decrees and the Temelin nuclear power plant. Although EU Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen has insisted that the disputes will not be a bar to accession, the Austrian government has repeatedly called for the repeal of the Benes decrees and the closure of the Temelin plant, and members of the Austrian Freedom Party have threatened to block the Czech Republic's accession over these issues. In addition, the parliament of the German state of Saxony passed an appeal to the Czech government that the Benes decrees be repealed. However, Verheugen has suggested that a symbolic gesture, recognizing the injustice of the Benes decrees, would be sufficient. President Havel had already issued an official apology, in 1990, for the expulsions of Sudeten Germans.

Responding to an appeal by President Havel, in early June, the Constitutional Court annulled part of a controversial law on judicial reform, in effect since April 1. The Court was divided on the validity of the law (10 were against it, while 4 supported it). The Court ruling eliminates provisions concerning the periodic evaluation of judges, the intervention of state administration in the judiciary, and the mandatory training of judges, arguing that these measures concentrated too much power in the hands of the justice minister and therefore violated the principle of separation of powers. Since evaluations could result in a judge's dismissal, critics had charged that the law undermined judicial independence. The ruling also abolished the requirement that judges study at the Justice Academy, which is run by the Ministry of Justice. Instead, judges may choose to take courses at an educational institution administered by the judiciary itself, and these courses would not be mandatory. Overall, the ruling upheld the separation of powers and eliminated any oversight role for the executive-specifically, the Ministry of Justice-in the workings of the judiciary.

The latest round in the battle for control of TV Nova pitted media magnate Vladimir Zelezny against Ales Rozenhal, Zelezny's former lawyer and right-hand man. Rozenhal has joined with four other shareholders of CET 21-the company that holds the station's broadcasting license-to seek the removal of Zelezny from his post as Nova's general director and CET 21's acting secretary. On June 14, Rozenhal said that some of Zelezny's business deals suffered from a "lack of transparency" and that his presence in the company was damaging. The two adversaries are trying to resolve the disagreement through negotiations and an out-of-court settlement. The Czech press has speculated that Zelezny will leave Nova and move to Slovak Joj TV.

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