2024 European Parliament election in the Czech Republic
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All 21 Czech seats in the European Parliament
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Klára Dostálová Alexandr Vondra Marcel Kolaja
Party ANO ODS Pirates
Alliance SPOLU
Last election 21.19%, 6 seats 33.44%, 9 seats 13.96%, 3 seats
EP Group RE ECR / EPP Greens/EFA
  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Leader Petr Mach Kateřina Konečná
Party SPD KSČM
Alliance SPD-Tricolour Stačilo!
Last election 9.14%, 2 seats 6.94%, 1 seat
EP Group ID The Left

Elections will be held in the Czech Republic on 7-8 June 2024 to elect the 21 Czech representatives for the European Parliament, alongside the EU-wide 2024 European Parliament election. The newly elected European Parliament should consist of 720 deputies in total.

Electoral system

The 21 members are elected through semi-open list proportional representation in a single nationwide constituency with seats allocated through D'Hondt method and a 5% electoral threshold.[1]

Both Czech and EU citizens are entitled to vote in the European election in Czech Republic provided they have a permanent or temporary residence in the country at least 45 days prior to the elections. In addition, those eligible to vote must turn 18 years old by the second election day at the latest. Voter registration is rquired only for non-Czech EU citizen residing in Czech Republic, while Czech citizen are automatically registered in their place of residence.[2]

Background and previous election

The previous elections to the European Parliament (EP) were held in the Czech Republic on 24-25 May 2019. Voter turnout was 28.72%. The parties and candidates elected were:

In October 2020, Radka Maxová resigned from ANO, and in March 2021, she started cooperating as a non-party member with the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD), which had not won any seats in the previous election.[3] In September 2022, Hynek Blaško resigned from SPD and now sits in the EP as an independent.[4]

Outgoing delegation

The table shows the detailed composition of the Czech seats at the European Parliament as of 25 January 2024.

EP Group Seats Party Seats MEPs
Renew Europe
5 / 21
 ANO 2011 3
 
Independents 2
 
European People's Party
5 / 21
 TOP 09 2
 
KDU-ČSL 2
 
Mayors and Independents 1
 
European Conservatives and Reformists
4 / 21
 Civic Democratic Party 4
 
Greens–European Free Alliance
3 / 21
 Czech Pirate Party 3
 
Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
1 / 21
 Independents 1
 
Identity and Democracy
1 / 21
 Freedom and Direct Democracy 1
 
The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL
1 / 21
 Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia 1
 
Non-Inscrits
1 / 21
 Independents 1
 
Total 21
Source: European Parliament

Parties and candidates

The Civic Democratic Party (ODS), KDU-ČSL and TOP 09 have discussed whether they will run under the combined SPOLU banner or independently. According to reports, the ODS and TOP 09 memberships would prefer to run independently,[5] while ODS leader and Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala favours a joint candidacy as SPOLU.[6] A combined list under the SPOLU banner is problematic due to the fact that ODS is part of the European Conservatives and Reformists EP grouping, while KDU-ČSL and TOP 09 are part of the European People's Party.[7] Sitting MEP and ODS's 2019 electoral leader Jan Zahradil was reported to be problematic for KDU-ČSL and TOP 09, as well as many ODS members such as MP Eva Decroix.[8] On 5 June 2023 Zahradil announced that he will not run in the election.[9] Alexandr Vondra has also been speculated as a potential lead candidate for ODS or SPOLU as whole.[10][8]

On 18 May 2023, members of KDU-ČSL voted in a membership referendum in favor of running independently.[11] On 20 May 2023, KDU-ČSL decided at its nomination conference that its lead candidate for the 2024 elections will be current MEP Tomáš Zdechovský. Other candidates will include: František Talíř, the 1st Deputy Governor of the South Bohemian Region; MEP Michaela Šojdrová; Ondřej Mikmek, mayor of Slatinice in Olomouc; senator and twice presidential candidate Pavel Fischer; and MP Hayato Okamura. A decision over whether KDU-ČSL will run independently or as part of the SPOLU alliance will be made by September 2023.[12][13]

On 30 October 2023, ODS, TOP 09 and KDU-ČSL announced that they will contest the election on a joint list.[14]

The Czech Pirate Party launched primaries for its election list on 30 May 2023. All incumbent MEPs (Mikuláš Peksa, Markéta Gregorová and Marcel Kolaja) announced their intention to run for the position of electoral leader.[15] Former MP Mikuláš Ferjenčík also announced his candidacy, and received the endorsements of Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Lipavský and former Mayor of Prague Zdeněk Hřib. 2019 electoral leader Marcel Kolaja soon criticised Ferjenčík, stating that the leader should be a respected politician.[10] The fifth candidate is Jana Kolaříková, chair of the South Bohemian branch of the party.[16]

MP and former government minister Klára Dostálová is speculated to become the lead candidate for ANO 2011.[10] 2019 electoral leader Dita Charanzová was reportedly undecided whether to run again.[17] Party leader Andrej Babiš was also reported to be considering his own candidacy.[7]

Leader of Mayors and Independents (STAN) Vít Rakušan suggested Jan Farský as his party's electoral leader.[18]

Former Czech Prime Minister Jiří Paroubek has announced his intention to run in the election with his Nespokojení (Dissatisfied) movement, with the aim of connecting parties on the left of the political spectrum.[8]

In October 2023, Volt and Senator 21 announced that they would be standing in the European elections with a joint list.[19][20]

MEPs not standing for re-election

Name Party Date announced Source
Jan Zahradil Civic Democratic Party 5 June 2023 [21]

Opinion polling

See also: Opinion polling for the 2024 European Parliament election
Polling firm Fieldwork
date 		Sample
size 		SPOLU
ECR–EPP 		ANO
Renew 		Piráti
G/EFA 		STAN
EPP 		SPD–
Trikolóra
ID 		Stačilo!
Left 		SOCDEM
S&D 		Svobodní
NI 		Others Lead
IPSOS Dec 2023 TBA 25.2 26.3 10.0 12.0 7.7 6.0 — — 12.8 1.1
STEM/MARK 23–28 Nov 2023 1,010 15.0 33.8 11.4 7.3 14.7 5.4 3.6 2.9 6.0 18.8
2021 parliamentary election 8–9 Oct 2021 – 27.8 27.1 15.6 9.6 3.6 4.7 2.8[a] 6.6 0.7
2019 European election 24–25 May 2019 – 21.8[b] 21.2 14.0 11.7[c] 9.1 6.9 4.0 0.7 10.6 0.6
  1. ^ with Trikolora
  2. ^ ODS 14.6%, KDU-ČSL 7.2%
  3. ^ with TOP 09

References

  1. ^ Oelbermann, Kai Friederike; Pukelsheim, Friedrich (July 2020). "The European Elections of May 2019" (PDF). europarl.europa.eu. p. 14.
  2. ^ "How to vote in Czech Republic". European Parliament. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  3. ^ Martinek, Jan (19 March 2021). "Spoluzakladatelka ANO Maxová přestupuje v rámci europarlamentu do ČSSD". Novinky (in Czech). Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  4. ^ "Europoslanec Blaško zkritizoval Okamuru a končí v SPD". Seznam Zprávy (in Czech). Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  5. ^ Brodníčková, Karolina (11 April 2023). "Eurovolby dělí Spolu. Rozkmotří se?". Novinky (in Czech). Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  6. ^ Machová, Martina. "Sami, nebo Spolu? Strany koalice váhají, zda jít eurovoleb společně". Seznam Zprávy (in Czech). Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  7. ^ a b "Koalice Spolu zvažuje společnou kandidaturu do Evropského parlamentu. Nominaci rozmýšlel i Babiš". iROZHLAS (in Czech). 4 June 2023. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  8. ^ a b c Šeliga, Vojtěch. "Paroubek, Dostálová a nejistá budoucnost Zahradila? Kdo za rok zabojuje o europarlament". cnn.iprima.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  9. ^ Šamanová, Dáša (5 June 2023). "Zahradil jako šéf klubu ODS v europarlamentu končí, kandidovat už nebude". Novinky (in Czech). Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  10. ^ a b c Kopecký, Josef (30 May 2023). "Piráty může vést do voleb Ferjenčík. Má to být uznávaný politik, namítl Kolaja". iDNES.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  11. ^ Koutník, Ondřej. "Pojďme do eurovoleb bez Spolu, řekla většina lidovců v anketě". Seznam Zprávy (in Czech). Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  12. ^ Košťálová, Bára (20 May 2023). "KDU-ČSL vede do eurovoleb Zdechovský. Ještě není jasné, zda se lidovci spojí i s ODS a TOP09". iROZHLAS (in Czech). Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  13. ^ Menšík, Jan (21 May 2023). "Lidovce povede do EP Zdechovský. O případné kandidatuře v koalici Spolu se rozhodne do září". Novinky (in Czech). Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  14. ^ Zachová, Aneta (30 October 2023). "Czech EPP, ECR parties form joint EU elections list". Euractiv. Retrieved 2023-10-30.
  15. ^ Vodrážka, Prokop (30 May 2023). "Piráti zahájili evropské primárky. Kritiky vládního angažmá vyzve exposlanec Ferjenčík". Deník N (in Czech). Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  16. ^ Cigánek, Lukáš. "Kdo povede Piráty do eurovoleb? Peksa se opřel do Ferjenčíka, na lídra kandidují oba". cnn.iprima.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  17. ^ Veselý, Marek. "Nevím, jakým směrem se chce ANO ubírat, řekla Charanzová. Kandidaturu stále zvažuje". cnn.iprima.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  18. ^ Jakub Grim, Vít Kubant (15 April 2023). "Do evropských voleb půjde STAN samostatně. Jako lídr by se mi líbil Farský, prozradil Rakušan". iROZHLAS (in Czech). Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  19. ^ "Já vím, že pro evropské volby máte plná média Spolu, STANu či Pirátů". X (formerly Twitter). 2023-10-05. Retrieved 2023-12-09.
  20. ^ Eurovolby: Protestní rétorika Stačilo! stačit nebude, Přísaha je zpět a chce do EPP, 2023-12-06, retrieved 2023-12-09
  21. ^ "Zahradil jako šéf klubu ODS v europarlamentu končí, kandidovat už nebude". Novinky.cz (in Czech). 2023-06-05. Retrieved 2024-01-02.
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