KDU-ČSL

KDU-ČSL (In Czech, the initials of the Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party; ), often shortened to ("the populars"), is a Christian democratic political party in the Czech Republic, led by Marek Výborný. The party has taken part in most of the Czech government coalitions since 1990, and has been represented in every parliament except for the 6th Czech parliament (2010-2013). It currently forms part of the Cabinet of Petr Fiala, as part of the Spolu electoral alliance.

History

After the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, Šrámek served as head of Czechoslovak government in exile (in the United Kingdom). After 1945, ČSL was part of the national unity government, forming its most right-wing section.

Since the Velvet Revolution in 1989, the party has participated in almost every Czech government. In the June 2006 legislative election, KDU-ČSL won 7.2% of the vote and 13 out of 200 seats. However, in the 2010 election, its vote share dropped to 4.4%, and the party lost all of its seats. The party regained its parliamentary representation in the 2013 legislative election, winning 14 seats in the new parliament, thus becoming the first party ever to return to the Chamber of Deputies after previously dropping out.

In 2015, the KDU-ČSL leadership established a think tank, the Institute for Christian Democratic Politics (''Institut pro křesťansko-demokratickou politiku''), to promote Christian Democratic political ideas. The foundation's headquarters are located in the party's headquarters in Palác Charitas in Prague.

On 12 April 2017, KDU-ČSL signed an agreement with STAN to participate in 2017 legislative election as a coalition. Coalition needed to get more 10% of votes get over threshold. The coalition disintegrated before the election, thus the party went into the elections standalone, receiving 5.8% of votes.

In March 2019 the party was officially renamed to its common abbreviation, KDU-ČSL, and Marek Výborný became the new party leader. After the death of his wife, Výborný announced his resignation in November 2019 for personal reasons.

Membership

KDU-ČSL had 27,662 Members in 2015, the second largest member base of any party in the Czech Republic. The number has been decreasing since the 1990s when the party had 100,000 members.

Party strongholds

KDU-ČSL is known to have very strong electoral core concentrated primarily in South Moravia. The party has very stable electoral support thanks to the rural voters in Moravia and has managed to gain seats in the Chamber of Deputies during every election cycle in the Czech Republic since 1990 with the exception of 2010.

Names over time

*1919–1992 The ''Czechoslovak People's Party'' (''Československá strana lidová'') – merger of Moravian-Silesian Christian Social Party in Moravia, Catholic-National Conservative Party in Moravia, Czech Christian Social Party in the Kingdom of Bohemia and Catholic-National Conservative Party in Bohemia, Conservative People's Party.
*1992–2019 The ''Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party'' (''Křesťanská a demokratická unie – Československá strana lidová'')
*Since 2019 ''KDU-ČSL'' - after renaming to party' abbreviation.

Leaders

* Jan Šrámek (1922–1948)
* Alois Petr (1948–1951)
* Josef Plojhar (1951–1968)
* Antonín Pospíšil (1968–1973)
* Rostislav Petera (1973–1980)
* František Toman (1980–1981)
* Zbyněk Žalman (1981–1989)
* Josef Bartončík (1989–1990)
* Josef Lux (1990–1998)
* Jan Kasal (1999–2001)
* Cyril Svoboda (2001–2003)
* Miroslav Kalousek (2003–2006)
* Jan Kasal (2006)
* Jiří Čunek (2006–2009)
* Cyril Svoboda (2009–2010)
* Michaela Šojdrová (2010)
* Pavel Bělobrádek (2010–2019)
* Marek Výborný (2019–2020)
* Marian Jurečka (2020–2024)
* Marek Výborný (Since 2024)

Young Populars

The party's youth wing, for those aged 15-35, is the Young Populars (, ML), founded in 2012. In June 2021, the Young Christian Democrats (1998–2021) was merged with the Young Populars, to form one single youth wing of the party. Environment Minister Petr Hladík was president of ML from 2012–2015.

Symbols

KDU-ČSL had many symbols through history, with the current logo depicting a Christian cross on a linden leaf.

Logos

Historical logo of the Czechoslovak People's Party.svg, Party symbol, 1930s
Czechoslovak People's Party historical logo.svg, Party logo, 1945–1992
KDU-CSL Logo Alt.png, Party logo, 1992–2006
KDU-CSL Logo.jpg, Party logo, 2006–2012
KDU-CSL Logo 2012.svg, Current logo, since 2012
KDU-ČSL Lidovci.svg, Electoral logo, 2024

Election results

Czechoslovakia wide elections

Legislative elections

Devolved assembly elections

Czech assembly elections

Slovak assembly elections

Czech Republic wide elections

Legislative elections

Senate elections

^* Places are by number of votes gained.

^** The whole Senate was elected. Only one third of Senate was elected in all subsequent elections.

^***Participated as Part of Four-Coalition

Presidential

European Parliament

Local elections

Regional elections

2020 Czech regional election results

Further reading

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Notes

References

External links

Official website

English version of the homepageOfficial homepage of ''Mladí lidovci''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Christian And Democratic Union - Czechoslovak People's Party

Catholic political parties
Christian democratic parties in the Czech Republic
Political parties in Czechoslovakia
Social conservative parties in the Czech Republic
1919 establishments in Czechoslovakia
Political parties established in 1919
Member parties of the European People's Party
Centrist political parties in the Czech Republic
Regionalist parties in the Czech Republic
Pro-European political parties in the Czech Republic