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1998 Czech presidential election

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1998 Czech presidential election

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Nominee Václav Havel
Party Independent
Electoral vote 146
(final round)
Percentage 52.3%

President before election

Václav Havel
Independent

Elected President

Václav Havel
Independent

Indirect presidential elections were held in the Czech Republic on 20 January 1998 to elect a new president. The Parliament re-elected incumbent President Václav Havel in the second round. The arrest of an opposition candidate, Miroslav Sládek, was criticised by Havel's opponents.[1][2][3]

Electoral system

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President of the Czech Republic was elected indirectly by a joint session of the Czech Parliament. Each ballot can have at most three rounds. In the first round, a victorious candidate requires an absolute majority in both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. Given a 200-seat Chamber and an 81-seat Senate, a successful first-round candidate requires 101 deputies and 41 senators.

If no single candidate gets a majority of both the Chamber and the Senate, a second round is then called for. At this stage, a candidate requires an absolute majority of merely those actually present at the time of voting in both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The actual number of votes required in the second round might be the same as in the first round, but it can be a little less, due to the absence of a few parliamentarians. Nevertheless, in this second round, a single candidate would need to win a majority in both the Chamber and the Senate.

Should no single candidate achieve a majority of both houses then present, a third round is necessitated. In this final round, which can happen within 14 days of the first round, an absolute majority of deputies and senators present suffices. At this stage, the individual houses of parliament are not considered separately. Assuming that all members of parliament are present, all that is required to win is 141 votes, regardless of the house of origin. If no candidate wins in the third round, another ballot has to be considered in a subsequent joint session of parliament. The process continues under the same rules until a candidate prevails.

Parties in parliament

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Party Chamber of Deputies Senate Endorsed candidate
Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD)
61 / 200
25 / 81
Václav Havel
Civic Democratic Party (ODS)
36 / 200
31 / 81
Václav Havel
Freedom Union (US)
33 / 200
1 / 81
Václav Havel
Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM)
22 / 200
2 / 81
Stanislav Fischer
Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party (KDU-ČSL)
18 / 200
13 / 81
Václav Havel
Rally for the Republic – Republican Party of Czechoslovakia (SPR-RSČ)
18 / 200
0 / 200
Miroslav Sládek
Civic Democratic Alliance (ODA)
13 / 200
7 / 81
Václav Havel
Democratic Union (DEU)
0 / 200
1 / 81
Václav Havel
Independents
0 / 200
1 / 81

Candidates

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Results

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Václav Havel received 130 votes in the first round and was the only candidate who qualified for the second round, as he gained the most votes in both chambers of parliament. There he received 146 votes of 279 and won by seven votes, but in the Chamber of Deputies he won by only one vote. This was controversial as Miroslav Sládek couldn't vote in the election due to his arrest. If Sládek had participated in the vote, Havel would probably have been elected in the third round. Sládek's Republican Party called Havel's victory illegal and refused to acknowledge it. The First Lady Dagmar Havlová whistled during a speech of a Republican MP Jan Vik.[5][6]

Candidate First round Second round
Deputies Senators Total % Deputies Senators Total %
Václav Havel 91 39 130 70.65 99 47 146 100
Stanislav Fischer 26 5 31 16.85
Miroslav Sládek 22 1 23 12.50
Total 139 45 184 100 99 47 146 100

References

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  1. ^ "Občan Havel: Kouteckého nasládlá propaganda, kterou měla naštěstí rozum odmítnout i Česká televize". blisty.cz. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  2. ^ "Dvoje prezidentské volby". Bohumil Doležal. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  3. ^ "Havel byl zvolen prezidentem nezákonně, tvrdí dělníci". EuroZprávy.cz. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  4. ^ Lutišan, Vojtěch. VOLBA PREZIDENTA REPUBLIKY V ČESKÉ REPUBLICE. Brno: Masaryk University. pp. 24–25.
  5. ^ "Deset let poté: Dagmar Havlová pískala v Parlamentu". TN.cz. 19 January 2008. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  6. ^ "1998 - Volba prezidenta 2008 (Český rozhlas)". Rozhlas.cz. Archived from the original on 14 March 2019. Retrieved 4 August 2016.