2024 Czech Senate Election

Senate elections for one-third of the Senate of the Czech Republic were held on 20 and 21 September 2024. The first round was held alongside regional elections, with a second round held one week later. The result was a victory for the populist ANO party which won a Senate election for the first time in history.

Background

This Senate election is the second and last election to the Senate happening during the term of Petr Fiala's cabinet. The parties in the government coalition and their allies will defend 22 out of 27 seats. Opposition parties hold only two seats that are up for election, while three seats up for election are held by independents.

Immediately after the 2018 Senate elections, two of the candidates elected as independents joined senate groups of parliamentary parties: Ladislav Faktor joined the group of ODS and TOP 09 and Jitka Chalánková become a member of the KDU-ČSL group. Only Pavel Fisher remained as formally independent.

Only one seat out of the 27 was contested in a by-election in the duration of the term, with the seat being the 32nd district – Teplice, originally held by ODS member and the President of Senate Jaroslav Kubera. Following his death a by-election was held with another ODS member, Hynek Hanza, winning the seat.

Several unsuccessful candidates in the 2018 and 2023 Czech presidential elections will have their seats up for re-election, including Jiří Drahoš, Pavel Fischer and Marek Hilšer. The term of one member of the Fiala Cabinet, the Minister of Education Mikuláš Bek, is ending; Bek however decided not to stand for re-election.

Electoral system

One-third of the 81-member Senate is elected every two years, giving senators six year terms. Members of the Senate are elected in single-member constituencies using the two-round system. Candidates had to be nominated by one or more registered political parties or collect at least 1,000 signatures in their constituency. There are no term limits for incumbent senators.

Due to the 2024 Central European floods, the Interior Ministry took direct control of organising elections in five severely affected towns, while voting in some areas was held in tents, containers or in open-air venues.

Contesting parties

Similar to the 2022 election, several parties have decided to form more or less formal alliances in some or all seats.

Spolu

Unlike two years prior, parties of the Spolu alliance have not signed any pre-electoral memorandum and are standing candidates mostly individually. Exception is Jiří Drahoš in Prague, who is supported by all parties in the Fiala government and Leopold Sukovský from Ostravak, whose candidacy is also supported by all three parties.

Pirates, SEN 21 and Greens

The Czech Pirate Party, SEN 21 and the Green Party have announced cooperation in 10 out of the 27 constituencies. Three candidates will be nominated by SEN 21, five by Pirates, two by Greens and one jointly by SEN 21 and Pirates.

Přísaha and Motorists

The coalition of Přísaha and Motorists have agreed to stand the leader of Přísaha as their joint candidate.

Composition of contested seats before the elections

Most seats up for the election, 13 out of 27, are held by the Spolu aliance, with 10 of these being held by ODS, two by KDU-ČSL and one by TOP 09. STAN lead bloc will defend seven seats and progressive pack composed of Pirates, SEN 21 and the Greens will be incumbent in two districts, with Pirates and SEN 21 defending one seat each

The opposition only holds two up the seats up in 2024, including the sole Senate seat held by SOCDEM in Karviná.

Three senators elected as independents will have their seats up for re-election, only two of them have chosen to contest the elections.

Results

In the first round, 19 of the ANO's candidates to the Senate advanced to the runoff, while two others were elected outright, along with one KDU-ČSL candidate, a TOP 09 candidate, and a member of Social Democracy. Twenty-two seats were to be contested in the second round.

At the end of the second round, the ANO won a total of eight seats, the party's strongest showing in a Senate election, while Spolu won 15.

The first round of the elections saw a voter turnout of 30.47%, while the second round experienced a historically low turnout of 17.54%. The highest turnout in the second round was in the Opava electoral district at 23.30%, and the lowest was in the Prostějov district at 12.15%.

References

{{Czech elections

Czech
Senate
Senate election
Senate elections in the Czech Republic