The Civic Democratic Alliance (, ODA) was a conservative-liberal political party in the Czech Republic, active between 1989 (founded shortly after the

Velvet revolution The Velvet Revolution () or Gentle Revolution () was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations against the one-party government of the Communist Pa ...

) and 2007. The ODA was part of government coalitions until 1997 and participated in transformation of the Czech economy. The party was supported by president

Václav Havel Václav Havel (; 5 October 193618 December 2011) was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and dissident. Havel served as the last List of presidents of Czechoslovakia, president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until 1992, prior to the dissol ...

who voted for it in 1992 and 1996 election.

History

The ODA was established in 1989 by a group of intellectuals as a conservative-liberal party, based on ideas often expressed in

The Salisbury Review ''The Salisbury Review'' is a quarterly United Kingdom, British "magazine of Conservatism, conservative thought". It was founded in 1982 by the Salisbury Group, who sought to articulate and further traditional intellectual conservative ideas. The ...

. The other motive was personal antipathy to

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 ...

and his party Civic Democratic Party (ODS). In 1992 legislative election, ODA obtained over 300,000 votes (5,93 per cent of all votes) and gained 14 seats in Czech National Council. It became part of right-wing coalition (First government of

) together with the ODS, Christian and Democratic Union (KDU–ČSL) and Christian Democratic Party (KDS). In 1996 legislative election, the ODA obtained 6.36 per cent of votes and again formed coalition with the ODS and KDU–ČSL (the second government of Václav Klaus). However, this government didn't manage to form majority in the Chamber of Deputies and so was depending on toleration of the centre-left

Czech Social Democratic Party Social Democracy (, SOCDEM), known as the Czech Social Democratic Party (, ČSSD) until 10 June 2023, is a social democratic political party in the Czech Republic. Sitting on the centre-left of the political spectrum and holding pro-European ...

(ČSSD) (government disposed of 99 deputies out of 200, social democrats of 61 deputies and non-system parties of 40 deputies). Following financial scandals of the ODS, the coalition fell apart. Both the ODS and KDU-ČSL participated in caretaker government of Josef Tošovský. It didn't participate in 1998 legislative election, in order ''"to not split votes on the right-wing"''. The ODA formed the Four-Coalition with the KDU–ČSL, Freedom Union and Democratic Union in opposition to the grand coalition of the centre-right ODS and centre-left ČSSD. However, the ODA became the coalition's weakest member, and after its funding problems came to light, it ceased to take part in the Czech political scene. It only had one senator,

Karel Schwarzenberg Karel Schwarzenberg (, 10 December 1937 – 12 November 2023) was a Czech politician, diplomat and statesman who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Czech Republic), Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic from 2007 to 2009 and ...

(Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic since 2007). The party ceased activity on 31 December 2007. Czech billionaire Pavel Sehnal announced in December 2016 that he established a new Civic Democratic Alliance. Leaders of the original ODA weren't involved with the new party.

Election results

Chamber of Deputies

Seats in the Chamber of Deputies ImageSize = width:350 height:120 PlotArea = width:250 height:80 left:50 bottom:20 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:0 till:20 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:4 start:0 PlotData= bar:Seats color:claret width:30 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:S bar:1992 color:skyblue from:start till:14 text:14 bar:1996 color:skyblue from:start till:13 text:13 bar:1998 color:skyblue bar:2002 color:skyblue bar:2006 color:skyblue

Senate

Seats in the Senate ImageSize = width:350 height:120 PlotArea = width:250 height:80 left:50 bottom:20 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:0 till:10 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:2 start:0 PlotData= bar:Seats color:claret width:30 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:S bar:1996 color:skyblue bar:1998 color:skyblue from:start till:4 text:4 bar:2000 color:skyblue from:start till:5 text:5 bar:2002 color:skyblue from:start till:5 text:5 bar:2004 color:skyblue from:start till:2 text:2 bar:2006 color:skyblue from:start till:1 text:1

Presidential

European Parliament

Leaders

* Pavel Bratinka (1989-1992) * Jan Kalvoda (1992-1997) * Michael Žantovský (1997) * Jiří Skalický (1997-1998) * Daniel Kroupa (1998-2001) * Michael Žantovský (2001-2002) * Jiřina Nováková (2002-2007)

References

External links

Civic Democratic Alliance
official site

{{Authority control Defunct political parties in the Czech Republic Liberal parties in the Czech Republic Defunct liberal political parties Conservative liberal parties Right-wing parties in the Czech Republic Civic Forum breakaway groups 1990 establishments in Czechoslovakia 2007 disestablishments in the Czech Republic Political parties established in 1990 Political parties disestablished in 2007