2009 European Parliament election in the Czech Republic

The European Parliament election of 2009 in Czech Republic was the election of the delegation from Czech Republic to the European Parliament in 2009. The Civic Democratic Party has won the election with a surprisingly strong lead against the Czech Social Democratic Party. Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia came third and the Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party became the last party to enter the Parliament.[1]

2009 European Parliament election in the Czech Republic
5–6 June 2009
22 seats to the European Parliament
Turnout28.22%
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Jan Zahradil Jiří Havel Miloslav Ransdorf
Party ODS ČSSD KSČM
Alliance AECR PES GUE/NGL
Seats won 9 7 4
Seat change 0 5 2
Popular vote 741,946 528,132 334,577
Percentage 31.45 22.38% 14.18%
Swing 1.41% 13.61% 6.08%
  Fourth party
 
Leader Zuzana Roithová
Party KDU–ČSL
Alliance EPP
Seats won 2
Seat change 2
Popular vote 180,451
Percentage 8.64%
Swing 1.92
Result by district (ODS Blue, ČSSD orange)

Two newly founded right-wing parties, the Czech wing Libertas.cz of Declan Ganley's Libertas founded by Vladimír Železný and the Party of Free Citizens, ran in the election.[2]

Background

Previous election was held in 2004. It was won by the Civic Democratic Party that won 30% of votes ahead of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia which received 20% of the votes. Czech Social Democratic Party of Prime Minister Vladimír Špidla was heavily defeated receiving only 9% of votes finishing fourth.[3] Špidle resigned after the election.[4]

Civic Democrats joined European People's Party group after the election as a member of European Democrats.[5] ODS the cooperated with British Conservative Party to establish new Eurosceptic faction within European Parliament.[6]

2004 Seats
PartyEP GroupSeats
ODS EPP-ED 9
KSČM GUE-NGL 6
SNK ED EPP-ED 3
ČSSD S&D 2
KDU-ČSL EPP-ED 2
NEZÁVISLÍ IND/DEM 2

Procedure

The 22 of Czech delegation in the European parliament are elected using open list proportional representation, in which they can give preferential votes for up to two candidates on their chosen list. Seats are allocated using the d'Hondt method, with an electoral threshold of 5% nationwide for single parties. Candidates who receive preferential votes from more than 5% of voters are moved to the top of their list, and in cases where more than one candidate receives over 5% of the preferential votes, they are ranked in order of votes received.

Campaign
Politician rallyes in the central part of Prague few days before elections of European Parliament for 2009–2013 term

Civic Democratic Party

First candidates were introduced on 9 February 2009. Jan Zahradil became electoral leader. Other candidates included Evžen Tošenovský, Oldřich Vlasák etg. Party also launched its election website on the same day. Zahradil stated that ODS will be forced to use negative campaign as reaction to strateg of its opponents.[7] Remaining candidates were introduced on 16 March 2009.[8]

Campaign of Civic Democratic Party (ODS) was launched by electoral leader Jan Zahradil on 13 February 2009.[9] ODS stated that it would invest 40 million CZK to the campaign.[10]

ODS started negative campaign against ČSSD as response to Social Democratic campaigns from previous years.[7][11] Civic Democrats founded Blue Team to help the party with campaign.

The Civic Democratic Party was active on internet and used social media during its campaign while its main rival and election front-runner Social Democratic Party underestimated internet campaign and Civic Democrats got to lead as a result.[12]

Czech Social Democratic Party

ČSSD planned to invest 30 million CZK.[13] Czech Social Democratic Party was led by Jiří Havel. Party decided to focus on Financial crisis and domestic issues during its campaign.[13] Social Democratic Party was considered front-runner as it was leading in polls but the lead narrowed as the election date was getting closer. The Civic Democratic Party was active on internet and used social media during its campaign and eventually. Social Democrats on the other hand underestimated internet campaign and Civic Democrats got to lead as a result.[14]

Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia

Miloslav Ransdorf was announced as electoral leader on 18 September 2008.[15]

Christian and Democratic Union – People's Party

Christian Democrats launched election campaign on 9 March 2009.[16] They introduced their candidates on 20 March 2009.[17]

Green Party

Greens voted Jan Dusík as its electoral leader on 28 February 2009.[18]

EP list leaders

Campaign Finances
PartyČSSDODSKSČMKDU-ČSL
Money Spent[19]60,000,000 Kč40,000,000 Kč17,000,000 Kč2,500,000 Kč

Debates
2009 European Parliament election in the Czech Republic debates
Date Organisers  P  Present   A  Absent  
ODS ČSSD KSČM KDU–ČSL
2 June Česká televize[20] P
Jan Zahradil		 P
Jiří Havel		 P
Miloslav Ransdorf		 P
Zuzana Roithová

Opinion polls
Polling Firm Date ODS KSČM KDU–ČSL ČSSD SZ STAN Others Undecided
CVVM[21] 2 – 9 March 2009 31% 12.5% 5% 29% 6.5% N/A 3% 13%
STEM[22] 12–13 March 2009 23% 10% N/A 30% N/A N/A N/A N/A
CVVM[23] 30 March – 6 April 2009 26% 13% 6% 28% 5.5% N/A 4.5% 17%
STEM[24] 21 April 2009 27.6% 14.5% 6.6% 30.3% 6.6% 5.3% 9.1% N/A
STEM[25] 5 May 2009 25% 11.4% 7.2% 30.9% 6% N.A.% 6.4% 13.1%
CVVM[26] 4–11 May 2009 33.0% 13.5% 5.5% 25.5% 5.0% N/A 6.5% 10.0%
STEM[27] 5–12 May 2009 20.9% 8.9% 5.5% 24.2% 3.1% N.A.% 11.9% 25.5%
CVVM[28] 25 May 2009 36.5% 15.5% 6.5% 28.0% 5.5% N.A.% 8%
UPOL[29] 25 May 2009 29.1% 14.8% 5.5% 29.8% 2.9% 3.3% 3.5%
STEM/SC&C[30] 26 May 2009 31.0% 13.0% 8.0% 27.0% 4.0% 2.0% 15.0%
Election 5 June 2009 31.5% 14.2% 7.6% 22.4% 2.1% 2.3% 19.9% 0%

Media survey
Survey Date ODS SSO DSSS KDU-ČSL DSZ STAN SNK-ED< ČSSD Others
iDnes[31][32] 4 May 2009 24.5 17.2 6.0 4.5 4.3 4.1 2.4 2.3

Results

The Civic Democratic Party (ODS) has won the election with 30% and 9 seats. Party's chairman Mirek Topolánek stated that the election showed that ODS is once again an equal rival to Social Democrats. Czech Social Democratic Party finished second with 22% of votes and 6 seats. Party was dissatisfied with the result as it expected a better result. Chairman Jiří Paroubek stated that party was damaged by low turnout but noted that it is improvement as the party received only 8.8% in 2004 election. Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia considered the result as an improvement from 2006 parliamentary election. Christian and Democratic Union – People's Party was pleased with the result as the party showed stable support. Other parties failed to reach 5% threshold. Green Party received only 2% of votes. Chairman Martin Bursík decided to resign as a result. Czech Sovereignty led by MEP Jana Bobošíková received 4% and narrowly failed to win any seats.[33]

 Summary of the results of the Czech Republic's 5 June 2009 election to the European Parliament
← 2004 • 2009 • 2014 →
National party European party Main candidate Votes % +/– Seats +/–
Civic Democratic Party (ODS) AECR Jan Zahradil 741,946 31.45 1.41 9 0
Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) PES Jiří Havel 528,132 22.38 13.61 7 5
Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM) PEL (observer) Miloslav Ransdorf 334,577 14.18 6.08 4 2
Christian and Democratic Union – People's Party (KDU–ČSL) EPP Zuzana Roithová 180,451 7.64 1.92 2 0
Sovereignty Jana Bobošíková 100,514 4.26 — 0 0
European Democratic Party (EDS) None Jana Hybášková 68,152 2.88 — 0 0
Public Affairs (VV) Kateřina Klasnová 56,636 2.40 — 0 0
Mayors and Independents – Your Option Jaromír Štětina 53,984 2.28 — 0 0
Green Party (SZ) EGP Jan Dusík 48,621 2.06 1.10 0 0
SNK European Democrats (SNK ED) Lukáš Macek 39,166 1.66 9.36 0 3
Party of Free Citizens (Svobodní) Jiří Payne 29,846 1.26 — 0 0
Workers' Party (DS) Tomáš Vandas 25,368 1.07 0.89 0 0
Right Bloc (PB) Petr Cibulka 23,612 1.00 0.17 0 0
Libertas.cz Libertas.eu Vladimír Železný 22,243 0.94 0 0
Party for Dignified Life Stanislav Jaš 17,061 0.72 0 0
Democratic Party of Greens Olga Zubova 14,761 0.63 0 0
INDEPENDENTS IN/DEM Roman Škrabánek 12,824 0.54 7.64 0 2
Moravané EFA Jiří Novotný 9,086 0.39 0 0
Rally for the Republic – Republican Party of Czechoslovakia Miroslav Sládek 7,492 0.32 0.35 0 0
Nejen hasiči a živnostníci s učiteli do Evropy - www.hnpd.cz, www.sdzp.cz Jan Szotkowski 6,904 0.29 0 0
National Party Petra Edelmannová 6,263 0.27 0 0
Humanist Party Jan Tamáš 4,584 0.19 0.02 0 0
Freeholder Party of the Czech Republic Jiří Pekárek 4,544 0.19 0 0
Koruna Česká Václav Srb 4,449 0.19 0 0
GREENS Neela Winkelmannová 3,717 0.16 0 0
Balbín Poetic Party Jiří Hrdina 3,711 0.16 0.43 0 0
Czech National Socialist Party Ivan Šterzl 3,269 0.14 0 0
Liberals.cz Milan Hamerský 1,775 0.08 0 0
United Democrats - Association of Independents 1,501 0.06 0 0
Party of Free Democrats Petr Plaček 1,423 0.06 0 0
Democracy and Freedom Party Ota Štros 986 0.04 0 0
Czech National Social Party Zdeněk Joukl 791 0.03 0 0
People and Politics Karel Kučera 545 0.02 0 0
Valid votes 2,358,934 99.49
Blank and invalid votes 12,075 0.51
Totals 2,371,009 100.00 — 22 2
Electorate (eligible voters) and voter turnout 8,401,374 28.22 0.10
Source: Czech Statistical Office

European groups
European group Seats 2004 Seats 2009 Change
European Conservatives and Reformists ECR 9 9 0
Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats S&D 2 7 5
European United Left–Nordic Green Left EUL-NGL 6 4 2
European People's Party EPP 5 2 3
Independence/Democracy IND/DEM 2 0 2
24 22 2

Elected MEPs
Num MEP Sex Party EP Group Period Pref. Votes
1. Evžen Tošenovský Male ODS ECR 14 July 2009 – 30 June 2014 104,737
2. Jan Zahradil Male ODS ECR 14 July 2009 – 30 June 2014 65,731
3. Miloslav Ransdorf Male KSČM GUE-NGL 14 July 2009 – 30 June 2014 61,453
4. Jiří Havel Male ČSSD S&D 14 July 2009 – 8 July 2012 59,818
5. Zuzana Roithová Female KDU–ČSL EPP 14 July 2009 – 30 June 2014 52,503
6. Richard Falbr Male ČSSD S&D 14 July 2009 – 30 June 2014 44,703
7. Vladimír Remek Male KSČM GUE-NGL 14 July 2009 – 15 December 2013 40,650
8. Jan Březina Male KDU–ČSL EPP 14 July 2009 – 30 June 2014 23,154
9. Libor Rouček Male ČSSD S&D 14 July 2009 – 30 June 2014 19,771
10. Hynek Fajmon Male ODS ECR 14 July 2009 – 30 June 2014 16,041
11. Andrea Češková Female ODS ECR 14 July 2009 – 30 June 2014 14,477
12. Oldřich Vlasák Male ODS ECR 14 July 2009 – 30 June 2014 11,744
13. Edvard Kožušník Male ODS ECR 14 July 2009 – 30 June 2014 11,567
14. Miroslav Ouzký Male ODS ECR 14 July 2009 – 30 June 2014 9,869
15. Olga Sehnalová Female ČSSD S&D 14 July 2009 – 30 June 2014 9,386
16. Jiří Maštálka Male KSČM GUE-NGL 14 July 2009 – 30 June 2014 8,181
17. Zuzana Brzobohatá Female ČSSD S&D 14 July 2009 – 30 June 2014 7,736
18. Milan Cabrnoch Male ODS ECR 14 July 2009 – 30 June 2014 7,143
19. Ivo Strejček Male ODS ECR 14 July 2009 – 30 June 2014 6,071
20. Jaromír Kohlíček Male KSČM GUE-NGL 14 July 2009 – 30 June 2014 5,719
21. Pavel Poc Male ČSSD S&D 14 July 2009 – 30 June 2014 4,814
22. Robert Dušek Male ČSSD S&D 14 July 2009 – 30 June 2014 4,042
Source:[34]

References
  1. Karásek, Pavel (2011). Volby do Evropského parlamentu v České republice v roce 2009 [Elections to the European Parliament in the Czech Republic in 2009] (PDF) (in Czech). Brno: Masaryk University. p. 58. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 18 February 2009. Retrieved 13 February 2009.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "Rozhodnuto: Špidla drtivě prohrál". iDNES.cz. 14 June 2004. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  4. "Vladimír Špidla rezignoval na post předsedy ČSSD i vlády; kabinet podá demisi". iROZHLAS (in Czech). Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  5. "ODS a její místo v evropském parlamentu". Centrum pro studium demokracie a kultury (in Czech). 10 December 2015. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  6. Europeanised defiance : Czech Euroscepticism since 2004. pp. 106–107. ISBN 978-3-8474-2092-7.
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  12. Karásek, Pavel (2011). Volby do Evropského parlamentu v České republice v roce 2009 [Elections to the European Parliament in the Czech Republic in 2009] (PDF) (in Czech). Brno: Masaryk University. pp. 59–60. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  13. "ČSSD chystá eurokampaň za třicet milionů" [The CSSD is preparing a euro-campaign for thirty million]. TÝDEN.cz (in Czech). 20 January 2009. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
  14. Karásek, Pavel (2011). Volby do Evropského parlamentu v České republice v roce 2009 [Elections to the European Parliament in the Czech Republic in 2009] (PDF) (in Czech). Brno: Masaryk University. pp. 59–60. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
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