Election Profile:

Flag of Czech Republic
  • Country: Czech Republic
  • Official Name: Czech Republic
  • Election Type: Parliamentary
  • First Round: October 17, 2008
    Second Round: October 24, 2008
Source for election date

At stake in this election:

  • 27 seats in the Senate (Senat)

Description of government structure:

  • Chief of State: President Vaclav KLAUS
  • Head of Government: Prime Minister Mirek TOPOLANEK
  • Assembly: Czech Republic has a bicameral Parliament (Parlament) consisting of the Senate (Senat) with 81 seats and the Chamber of Deputies (Poslanecka Snemovna) with 200 seats.

Description of electoral system:

  • The President is elected by parliament to serve a 5-year term.
  • In the Senate (Senat) 81 members are elected by absolute majority vote in single-member constituencies to serve 6-year terms*. In the Chamber of Deputies (Poslanecka Snemovna) 200 members are elected by party-list system with proportional distribution of seats to serve 4-year terms.**

* One third of the Senate is renewed every two years. A run-off election will be held on October 24-25 in constituencies in which no candidate obtained an absolute majority of votes.

** A threshold of 5% is required in order for a party to enter the Chamber of Deputies.

Main parties in the Second Round of the electoral race:

Main parties in the First Round of the electoral race:

Population and number of registered voters:

  • Population: 10,220,911 (July 2008 est.)
  • Registered Voters: 2,852,506 (October 2008 Figure reflects number of registered voters in the third of senatorial districts with seats up for election.)

Last Updated on 10/06/2008