The Civic Democratic Party (ODS) leadership election of 2008 was a part of party's congress. It happened after ODS lost Senate election and regional elections. Incumbent leader and Prime Minister

Mirek Topolánek Mirek Topolánek (, born 15 May 1956) is a Czech politician and business manager who served as the prime minister of the Czech Republic from 2006 to 2009 and the leader of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) from 2002 to 2010. Between 2006 and 2 ...

faced Mayor of Prague

Pavel Bém Pavel Bém (born 18 July 1963) is a Czech physician and politician. Between 28 November 2002 and 30 November 2010 he served as the Mayor of the Capital City of Prague, and re-elected in 2006. On 19 November 2006 he was elected Deputy Leader o ...

who was supported by President

Václav Klaus Václav Klaus (; born 19 June 1941) is a Czech economist and politician who served as the second president of the Czech Republic from 2003 to 2013. From July 1992 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in January 1993, he served as the second ...

. Topolánek was re-elected when he received votes from 284 delegates while Bém received only 162 votes. 492 delegates could participate in election. Topolánek promised to learn from his mistakes and said that he will unite the party. Bém congratulated Topolánek but later saif that even though he respects him, he doesn't think that ODS will win next election if Topolánek is the leader of ODS.

Background

became leader of ODS in 2002. He was reelected in 2004 and 2006. ODS won under his leadership 2006 legislative election but in 2008, ODS suffered heavy defeat in

regional In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

and senate elections. Topolánek was blamed for the defeat and was speculated to be replaced in incoming leadership election.

was speculated to be his rival. Topolánek stated on 19 October 2008 that he plans to run for reelection. Pavel Bém announced his candidacy on 27 October 2008. He was supported by President of the Czech Republic and founder of ODS

. He stated that his candidacy is a reaction party's defeat in 2008 elections. Bém was endorsed by party's regional governors. It was believed that Topolánek will be defeated by Bém. There were other politicians who expressed interest in the election Oldřich Vojíř stated that he plans to run for the position.

Jan Zahradil Jan Zahradil (born 30 March 1963) is a Czech politician for the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) who has been Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since the Czech Republic entered the European Union in 2004. Zahradil also served as Member of t ...

would run if the election is deadblocked.

Petr Bendl Petr Bendl (born 24 January 1966) is a Czech politician, who served as Minister of Agriculture from October 2011 to July 2013 in Cabinet of Prime Minister Petr Nečas and briefly as Minister of Transport under leadership of Prime Minister Mire ...

also considered running. Evžen Tošenovský and Miroslava Němcová were speculated to run. Němcová herself dismissed speculations that she plans to run against Topolánek while Tošenovský stated that he doesn't know whether he will run for the position. Topolánek officially announced his candidacy on 2 November 2008. Topolánek was endorsed by some influential politicians within the party such as

Ivan Langer Ivan Langer (born 1 January 1967 in Olomouc) is a former Czech politician. He has been a member of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) since 1991. From 1996 to 2010 he was a member of the Chamber of Deputies (in 1996-2006 a vice-chairman), serving ...

, Jiří Pospíšil and

Tomáš Julínek Tomáš Julínek (born 7 November 1956) is a Czech politician and physician. From 2006 to 2009, Julínek served as the Minister of Health of the Czech Republic. He is a member of the Civic Democratic Party. Career Julínek received his degree fr ...

. Topolánek was supported by large portion of party's members. His supporters included some celebrities such as director

Filip Renč Filip Renč (born 17 August 1965) is a Czech film director, screenwriter, and actor. Biograph Filip Renč was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Since his childhood, he already proved his enthusiasm for movies and drama. As a young boy he appear ...

or actress Daniela Šinkorová. Topolánek started to gather new allies. Topolánek quickly gathered nominations from multiple party's organisations. On 25 November 2008, Toolánek received nomination from Prague organisation that was considered Bém's stronghold. Bém's victory was considered unlikely.

gave up his title as Honorary Chairman of the party before the election took place. Klaus stated that he has problem to identify with party's politics for very long time. He thanked the party for help during presidential elections. He stated that he realises that he would never be a president if there was no ODS and thanked for previous 18 years that he lived together with ODS. Klaus' decision led to many emotional reactions among members of the party.

Opinion polls

Voting

Topolánek was considered front-runner. He received 284 votes against Bém's 162 and won the election.

Aftermath

Topolánek remained party's leader until 2010 when he was replaced by

Petr Nečas Petr Nečas (; born 19 November 1964) is a Czech former politician who served as the prime minister of the Czech Republic and leader of the Civic Democratic Party from 2010 to 2013, and as Member of the Chamber of Deputies (MP) from 1993 to 2013 ...

References

{{Civic Democratic Party (ODS) , state=autocollapse

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2008 elections in the Czech Republic 2008 in the Czech Republic Indirect elections Elections in Prague Civic Democratic Party leadership election