PragueBuzz!

As we already both know that the presidential elections are approaching, I would like, first, to talk about the presidential authority and then I will give you a brief overview of the election process in the Czech Parliament.

President’s Authority
The prime  minister is the head of executive power in the Czech Republic. The president’s power is quite limited; he acts a an independent figure among the Legislative power, the Chamber of Deputies and Senate and the Executive power, the Government and Judicial power.

Beside the co-authorization which has to be countersignatured by the prime minister, the president can act on his own given that he follows the Czech Constitution.

• Appoints and recalls the Prime Minister and other members of the Government; accepts their resignation, recalls the Government and its resignation; the government has to be within 30 days confirmed by a simple majority of House of Deputies members.
• Authorizes the Government the resignation of which the President has accepted or which he has recalled to execute their office temporarily until a new Government is appointed;
• Appoints Justices of the Constitutional Court, its Chief Justice and Assistant Chief Justices;
• Pardons and mitigate penalties imposed by the court, order not to initiate criminal proceedings and suspend them if they are already initiated, and expunge sentences.
• Has the right to return to the Parliament and enacts law with the exception of Constitutional Acts. This can be overruled by a simple majority of House of Deputies members.
• Appoints the President and the Vice-President of the Supreme Control Office.
• Appoints members of the Bank Board of the Czech National Bank.

Election Process

President is elected by joined meetings of both chambers of Parliament: Deputies and Senate.

The candidate has to be Czech citizen, at least 40 years old and gains votes according to the below procedure:

• The voting can last up to three rounds until a person is elected.
• The candidate has to be nominated by at least 10 members of Parliament, indiscriminately if they are members of The Chamber of Deputies or Senate.

3 voting rounds

• In the first round, the majority votes of the Deputes and Senate, separately, are required. In no candidate gains enough votes, a candidate with the highest number of votes from each chamber (2 persons) advances to the second round.
• In the second round, the majority votes of each chamber’s attending (present at the time) members and  are required. If no candidate receives enough votes, then both automatically progress to the third round.
• In the third round, the votes of attending members of The Chamber of Deputies and Senate combined would be sufficient enough of votes to be elected a president.
• If a president is not elected in the third round, the entire process starts from the beginning, by the nominations of presidential candidates.

It is expected that due to the equal number of votes between two current candidates - Klaus, Svejnar, the president will be elected in the third round.

Written by Jan S.

In deed, the president was not elected in the 3rd round as predicted as neither of them won the majority votes. Another attempt will take place this Friday.