Early parliamentary elections were held in the Czech Republic on 25 and 26 October 2013, seven months before the constitutional expiry of the elected parliament's four-year legislative term.
The government elected in May 2010 led by Prime Minister Petr NeÃÂas was forced to resign on 17 June 2013, after a corruption and bribery scandal. A caretaker government led by Prime Minister Jià ÂàRusnok was then appointed by the President, but narrowly lost a vote of confidence on 7 August, leading to its resignation six days later. The Chamber of Deputies then passed a motion of dissolution on 20 August, requiring new elections to be called within 60 days of presidential assent. The President gave his assent on 28 August, scheduling the elections for 25 and 26 October 2013.
The two parties gaining the most seats were the Czech Social Democratic Party (ÃÂSSD) (50 seats) and the new party ANO (47 seats). The Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia came third, with an increase in vote share of 3.6%. The two parties from the previous coalition government who were contesting the election, TOP 09 and the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), lost substantial numbers of seats, to finish fourth and fifth, respectively. Two other parties (re)entered the parliament, the new party Dawn of Direct Democracy, and the Christian and Democratic Union â Czechoslovak People's Party.
The previous election in May 2010 resulted in the formation of a three-party centre-right coalition government consisting of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), TOP 09 and Public Affairs (VV), with 118 seats, led by Prime Minister Petr NeÃÂas.
On 22 April 2012, after a split in VV related to corruption accusations against the party leadership (especially VÃÂt Bárta), ODS and TOP 09 dissolved their coalition with VV, raising the possibility that early elections would be held in June 2012. However, shortly afterwards a breakaway faction of VV, led by KarolÃÂna Peake, formed a new party, LIDEM, who replaced VV in the coalition with ODS and TOP 09. The revised coalition controlled 100 seats <small>(ODS=51, TOP09=41, LIDEM=8)</small>, and won a subsequent vote of confidence on 27 April 2012 by 105 to 93 votes, with additional support from some independent MPs.
On 17 June 2013, Prime Minister Petr NeÃÂas resigned after a spying and corruption scandal. The Czech Social Democratic Party (ÃÂSSD), the largest opposition party, called for the dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies and a snap election, while the ODSTOP09LIDEM coalition argued they could still command a majority under Miroslava NÃÂmcová (ODS) as the new prime minister, as they proposed to the Czech President. From 25 June 2013, the previous government coalition only held 98 seats <small>(ODS=50, TOP09=42, LIDEM=6)</small>, and was therefore dependent upon support from independent MPs. To demonstrate its majority, the ODS-led coalition submitted 101 MP signatures of support to the president, including two extra independents as part of the LIDEM parliamentary group and the independent Michal Doktor, a former ODS member. In an unprecedented move, President Miloà ¡ Zeman decided not to accept the coalition's requests, but instead appointed a caretaker government with Jià ÂàRusnok as new prime minister. Zeman described the new government as a "government of experts", while his critics described it as a "government of Zeman's friends". Former Prime Minister Jan Fischer was named as finance minister. Zeman stated that if the caretaker government could not win majority support in the vote of confidence required by the constitution to take place after 30 days in office, then he would give the ODS-led coalition a second attempt to form a government, provided it could still submit at least 101 signatures of support from MPs.
On 7 August 2013, Jià ÂàRusnok's caretaker government lost the confidence vote in parliament by 93 to 100 votes, with 7 abstentions. A simple majority was required to unseat the government, which was supported by all MPs from ODS, TOP09 and LIDEM (except two ODS MPs and KarolÃÂna Peake of LIDEM, who broke the party line by abstaining). The two dissenting ODS MPs, who were both expelled from the party a few hours after the vote, explained their decision by stating that ODS needed a period of self-reflection in opposition in order to win the municipal elections in 2014.
KarolÃÂna Peake resigned as leader of LIDEM after the vote, and TOP 09 stated that due to a lack of support for a reformed ODSTOP09LIDEM government, as indicated by the results of the confidence vote, they would withdraw their support for this coalition, in favour of early elections. ÃÂSSD and the Communist Party (KSÃÂM) also supported early elections.
Though the constitution of the Czech Republic allows the president two attempts to appoint someone to form a new government, there is no time limit. As such, in theory the caretaker government could be allowed by the president to continue in its interim capacity until new elections took place, despite having lost the confidence vote. The end of the legislative term was scheduled to be May 2014, unless the parliament was dissolved before that date. Nevertheless, the caretaker government decided voluntarily to resign on 13 August 2013, with immediate effect, and the parliament convened on 20 August to decide whether to dissolve the parliament and call for new elections within 60 days, or to request that the president again appoint someone to form a new government.
A vote on dissolution of the parliament was scheduled to take place at 14:00 on 20 August. The four parties who had stated their support for the motion (TOP 09, ÃÂSSD, KSÃÂM and VV) together held more than the 60% majority (120 seats) required to pass the motion of dissolution, according to article 35(2) of the constitution. On 20 August, the parliament approved the motion of dissolution by 140 to 7. The president gave his assent for the dissolution of the parliament on 28 August, and scheduled the elections for 2526 October 2013.
The distribution of seats in the Chamber of Deputies on 20 August 2013, immediately before the parliament was dissolved, was as follows:
<small>* Three of these eight members (Martin Vacek, Radim Vyslouà ¾il, Jana Suchá) were not members of the LIDEM party itself, but independents who worked with the LIDEM parliamentary group.</small>
Following a random draw carried out by the State Election Committee, Czechs voting abroad who did not have permanent residency in the country would be included as voters in the Central Bohemian Region.
Following the election, ÃÂSSD said they were open to talks with all parties about the formation of a government. ANO leader Babis said he could imagine supporting a ÃÂSSD-led government, whether in a coalition or supporting a ÃÂSSD minority government from opposition, but that it was not his preferred option, as he opposed ÃÂSSD proposals for tax increases. He also indicated that he would seek to become Minister of Finance in any coalition cabinet.
Immediately after the elections, two factions emerged in the ÃÂSSD, one supporting chairman Bohuslav Sobotka and the other led by Michal Haà ¡ek, ÃÂSSD's leader in Moravia. Haà ¡ek, with support from President Miloà ¡ Zeman, issued a statement calling for Bohuslav Sobotka to resign as party chairman. ÃÂSSD leaders had already appointed Haà ¡ek as the lead negotiator in coalition talks due to take place with other parties. A few days previously, Michal Haà ¡ek had declared his loyalty to Sobotka, and endorsed him as leader of ÃÂSSD. ÃÂSSD members organized meetings and rallies against Haà ¡ek, and Sobotka compared Haà ¡ek to ZdenÃÂk Fierlinger, ÃÂSSD's pro-Communist leader from 1948 who forced the party to merge with the Communist regime. Sobotka was supported by Jià ÂàDienstbier Jr., the party's most recent presidential candidate, while Haà ¡ek was supported by party figures including Jeroným Tejc and LubomÃÂr Zaorálek. According to opinion polls, the situation was perceived by the public as an attempted leadership coup. Subsequently, Haà ¡ek and his allies, in the face of popular and party support for Bohuslav Sobotka, resigned their positions within the party and lost influence. A new negotiation team was formed, led by Bohuslav Sobotka, to negotiate with ANO and KDU-ÃÂSL.
On 11 November, ÃÂSSD began coalition talks with ANO and KDU-ÃÂSL. All parties agreed on progressive taxation, abolition of the previous government's social reforms and a law about property origin. However, disagreement remained between ÃÂSSD and KDU-ÃÂSL regarding church restitution.
In late December 2013, leaders of ÃÂSSD, ANO and KDU-ÃÂSL announced that they had reached an agreement on a coalition government. The coalition agreement was signed on 6 January 2014. The parties also agreed on a cabinet, in which ÃÂSSD took eight ministries, ANO seven ministries and KDU-ÃÂSL three ministries. Sobotka became prime minister, with Babià ¡ deputy prime minister and minister of finance, and KDU-ÃÂSL leader Pavel BÃÂlobrádek second deputy Prime Minister. Bohuslav Sobotka's Cabinet was sworn in on 29 January 2014.