TOP 09 (name derived from cs, Tradice Odpovědnost Prosperita, lit=Tradition Responsibility Prosperity) is a

liberal-conservative Liberal conservatism is a political ideology combining conservative policies with liberal stances, especially on economic issues but also on social and ethical matters, representing a brand of political conservatism strongly influenced by lib ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. Th ...

, led by Markéta Pekarová Adamová. TOP 09 holds 14 seats in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon ...

and has three

MEP MEP may refer to: Organisations and politics * Mahajana Eksath Peramuna, a political party in Sri Lanka * Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (1956), a former political alliance in Sri Lanka * Maison européenne de la photographie, a photography centre ...

History

Foundation and participation in government

The party was founded on 11 June 2009 by Miroslav Kalousek who left the Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party. Karel Schwarzenberg, who had previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the second Topolánek cabinet from January 2007 to March 2009, having been nominated by the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundati ...

for the post, and who had been elected to the Senate in 2004 as nominee of the Freedom Union – Democratic Union (US-DEU) and Civic Democratic Alliance (ODA) parties, became the party's first leader. Karel Schwarzenberg

In the 2010 parliament elections on 28–29 May 2010, TOP 09 received 16.7% of the vote and 41 seats, becoming the third largest party. The party joined the new coalition government, the Nečas cabinet, with the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) and Public Affairs (VV). In September 2010 TOP09 applied to join the

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Fo ...

. Karel Schwarzenberg has already officially participated in two EPP summits (15 September and 16 December 2010). On 10 February 2011 TOP 09 has officially been granted permission to join the EPP. In the 2013 legislative election on 25–26 October 2013, TOP 09 won 12% of the vote and 26 seats. The party entered opposition to the Sobotka cabinet.

Opposition and cooperation with STAN and ODS

In the 2014 European elections on 24 and 25 May 2014, TOP 09 reached second place nationally with 15.95% of the vote, electing 4

s. Karel Schwarzenberg left the position of leader in 2015. He was replaced by Miroslav Kalousek afterwards. In March 2016, Karel Tureček left the party and joined ANO 2011 which left TOP 09 with 25 MPs. In May 2016,

Pavol Lukša Pavol is a masculine Slovak given name, equivalent to Paul. Notable people with the name include: *Pavol Adami (1739–1795), Slovak scientist and scholar, one of the first veterinarians *Pavol Baláž (born 1984), Slovak footballer *Pavol Biroš ...

, one of founders of TOP 09, left the party and established the new party

Good Choice Good Choice and Moderates ( sk, Dobrá voľba a umiernení) is a political party in Slovakia. The party's goals were officially announced at a press conference on 12 September 2019. On 20 May 2023, the party approved a merger agreement with Voi ...

. TOP 09 was heavily defeated in 2016 regional elections. The party has gained only 19 seat and 3.4% of votes. Miroslav Kalousek then considered resignation but decided to stay. In January 2017, TOP 09 introduced its new program called Vision 2030. TOP 09 wants to adopt Euro, implement electronical voting and increase health standard to the level of Germany. TOP 09 also wants to shorten week work time to 4 days. Miroslav Kalousek said that he believes that TOP 09 will get over 10% in upcoming legislative election even though recent opinion polls indicated that TOP 09 might not reach 5% threshold. Ahead of 2017 parliamentary elections, TOP 09 was endorsed by The Czech Crown, Conservative Party, Club of Committed Non-Party Members and

Liberal-Environmental Party Liberal Environmental Party ( cs, Liberálně-ekologická strana, LES) is a green-liberal political party in the Czech Republic. It was established by Martin Bursík as a split from Green Party. The party is pro-European and supports Václav Havel ...

. The party eventually received 5.3% of votes being marginalised to 7 seats.

Jiří Pospíšil Jiří Pospíšil (born 24 November 1975) is a Czech Republic, Czech politician, who was leader of TOP 09 from November 2017 until November 2019. As a deputy for the Civic Democratic Party (Czech Republic), Civic Democratic Party, Pospíšil se ...

became the new leader after the election. In the next year municipal elections TOP 09 got only 1.1 per cent of the vote nationally. The best performance for the party was in the Prague City council elections, following which it joined a coalition with the

Czech Pirate Party The Czech Pirate Party or Pirates ( cs, Česká pirátská strana , abbreviated ''Piráti'' ) is a Liberalism, liberal Progressivism, progressive List of political parties in the Czech Republic, political party in the Czech Republic, founded in 20 ...

and Prague Together. In November, 2019, Markéta Pekarová Adamová was elected as new leader of the party. In late 2020, TOP 09 formed an electoral alliance with KDU-ČSL and ODS called SPOLU, to run in the 2021 elections. The alliance won popular vote and formed a coalition with Pirates and Mayors alliance. As a part of agreement of these alliances, TOP 09 leader Pekarová Adamová became Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic. On 20 November 2021 Pekarová Adamová was reelected in a TOP 09 leadership election, with 163 from 176 votes, being the only candidate.

Ideology

TOP 09 has been noted for its support of fiscal conservatism and is considered pro-

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...

, being strongly in favour of

European integration European integration is the process of industrial, economic, political, legal, social, and cultural integration of states wholly or partially in Europe or nearby. European integration has primarily come about through the European Union and its ...

. These two stances create a basic common ground of the party, as it was otherwise divided in two ideological wings: social conservative and social liberal. On 12 July 2017, TOP 09 and

agreed to participate in the

2017 Czech legislative election Legislative elections were held in the Czech Republic on 20 and 21 October 2017. All 200 members of the Chamber of Deputies were elected and Andrej Babiš of ANO 2011, also the leader of the resultant government, became the Prime Minister. The ...

together.

Election results

Below are charts of the results that the TOP09 has secured in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the e ...

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adop ...

, and regional assemblies at each election. Markéta Pekarová Adamová Praha 2018

Chamber of Deputies

Senate

Notes:
¹ By-election in Kladno district.
² By-election in Prague 10 district
³ By-election in Trutnov district. TOP 09 supported a

STAN Stan or STAN may refer to: People * Stan (given name), a list of people with the given name ** Stan Laurel (1890–1965), English comic actor, part of duo Laurel and Hardy * Stan (surname), a Romanian surname * Stan! (born 1964), American author ...

candidate Jan Sobotka.

Presidential

European Parliament

Local election

Prague municipal elections

Regional election

2020 Czech regional election resultsCzech Statistical Office
/ref>

Leaders

* Karel Schwarzenberg (2009–2015) * Miroslav Kalousek (2015–2017) *

(2017–2019) * Markéta Pekarová Adamová (Since 2019)

Symbols

TOP 09 Teillogo.svg, Party logo 2009–2017 TOP 09 logo.svg, Party logo 2017–present

Notes

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Top 09 Political parties established in 2009 Liberal conservative parties in the Czech Republic Member parties of the European People's Party Christian democratic parties in the Czech Republic Liberal parties in the Czech Republic Pro-European political parties in the Czech Republic KDU-ČSL breakaway groups 2009 establishments in the Czech Republic