Freedom Union – Democratic Union

The Freedom Union–Democratic Union (Czech: Unie Svobody–Demokratická unie, US–DEU) was a small pro-European liberal political party in the Czech Republic from 1998 to 2011.

Freedom Union–Democratic Union Unie svobody–Demokratická unie
Founded	1998
Dissolved	2011[1]
Split from	Civic Democratic Party
Ideology	Liberalism[2] Liberal conservatism[3]
Political position	Centre-right[4]
Colours	Dark green
Website
www.unie.cz
Politics of the Czech Republic Political parties Elections

The Freedom Union was founded in January 1998 by former members of the Civic Democratic Party who were unhappy with the leadership of Václav Klaus. After initially serving in a caretaker government, Freedom Union went into opposition after the 1998 election. In opposition, Freedom Union merged with the Democratic Union, and formed an alliance with the Christian Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party (KDU-ČSL).

From 2002 to 2006 Freedom Union was part of a coalition government with the Social Democratic Party and KDU-ČSL. However, in government the party lost support and at the 2006 election the party won less than 1% of the vote and failed to win any seats. The party disbanded on 1 January 2011.

History

Founding

The party was founded on 17 January 1998 at a congress in Litomyšl as the Freedom Union (Unie Svobody), as a split from the Civic Democratic Party (ODS).^[5] The party was founded after divisions within ODS over the leadership of Václav Klaus, and what the defectors said was his failure to tackle funding scandals.^[4][5] The former interior minister Jan Ruml led a challenge for the ODS leadership, but was defeated by Klaus by 227 votes to 72 at a special congress on 14 December 1997.^[6] This prompted 30 ODS members of parliament to form the Freedom Union, including Finance Minister Ivan Pilip and Defence Minister Michal Lobkowicz.^[4][5][7] The party elected Jan Ruml as its first leader on 2 February 1998.^[5]

Pilip and Lobkowicz were among the members of the Freedom Union who served in the caretaker government of Josef Tošovský, formed after the collapse of the coalition led by Václav Klaus.^[7] The party initially attracted public support, with a poll in March 1998 showing the Freedom Union on 13%, ahead of ODS on 8%.^[7] However the party suffered in the campaign for the June 1998 election, due to a lack of readiness for an election and a vague programme that was seen as being very similar to that of ODS.^[7]

Opposition

At the 1998 election the Freedom Union won 8.6% of the vote and 19 seats in the Chamber of Deputies.^[7] Refusing to form a government with ODS led by Václav Klaus, or with the Social Democratic Party due to policy differences, the party went into opposition.^[8][9] Instead the Social Democrats formed a minority government, which was tolerated by ODS.^[8]

In September 1998, the Freedom Union formed an alliance called the "Four-Coalition" with three other centre-right parties: KDU-ČSL, the Democratic Union, and the Civic Democratic Alliance.^[10] The Four-Coalition went on to win the most seats in the November 1998 Senate election.^[10] Ruml resigned as leader in December 1999, and the following February the party elected Karel Kühnl as the new leader, with 193 votes compared to 87 for Vladimír Mlynář.^[11]

The Freedom Union performed strongly at the November 2000 Senate election, becoming the third largest party in the Senate.^[12] In late 2001, Freedom Union merged with the Democratic Union party to form the Freedom Union-Democratic Union (US-DEU).^[4] However the Four-Coalition split at the beginning of 2002, after a lack of agreement on how to manage the high level of debts held by the Civic Democratic Alliance.^[4] Freedom Union-Democratic Union instead formed an alliance with KDU-ČSL to fight the 2002 election as the "Coalition".^[4]

Government

At the 2002 election the coalition of the Freedom Union-Democratic Union and KDU-ČSL won 31 seats in the Chamber of Deputies,^[13] and subsequently became part of a coalition government led by the Czech Social Democratic Party, which had a majority of one seat.^[5] However, at the 2002 Senate election, the Freedom Union-Democratic Union was reduced to only one senator.^[5]

As a party of government, the party started losing members and support, and suffered defeat in the 2004 European Parliament elections, failing to pass the 5% threshold required to win seats.^[14] Party leader Petr Mares resigned as a result, and was succeeded by the Regional Development Minister Pavel Němec.^[15] The party won just one seat at the 2004 Senate election.^[16]

Decline and dissolution

At the 2006 election, the party received just 0.3% of the vote, and lost all its seats in the Chamber of Deputies, triggering the resignation of its leader, Pavel Němec.^[5]

The party held a final party conference on 4 December 2010, where it was decided to disband the party as of 1 January 2011.^[1]

Policies

The Freedom Union-Democratic Union was a centre-right liberal party,^[4] which promoted free market policies and supported lower taxes and university tuition fees.^[4] The party was also a consistent critic of corruption.^[4]

However the party was also socially liberal, supporting the protection of the environment and minority rights.^[4] For the 2006 election, the party called for the legalisation of euthanasia, same-sex marriage and marijuana.^[17] The party was also pro-European and supported direct presidential elections.^[2][4]

Support for the party was mostly among younger urban voters and those with higher education.^[4]

Election results

Chamber of deputies of the Czech Republic

Year	Vote	Vote %	Seats	Place	Government
1996	...	...	33 / 200 [18]	3rd	Yes
1998	513,596	8.6	19 / 200	5th	No
2002[19]	680,671	14.27	8 / 200	4th	Yes
2006	16,457	0.3	0 / 200	11th	No

Senate

Election	First round			Second round			Seats
	Votes	%	Places	Votes	%	Places
1998							1 / 27
2000	99,504	11.6	5th	98,985	17.6	3rd	8 / 27
2002	48,879	7.3	5th	36,294	4.4	6th	1 / 27
2004	26,431	3.6	7th	23,922	5.0	5th	1 / 27
2006	18,522	1.7	8th	7,367	1.3	9th	0 / 27
2008							0 / 27

Presidential

Indirect Election	Candidate		First round result			Second round result			Third round result
			Votes	%Votes	Result	Votes	%Votes	Result	Votes	%Votes	Result
1998		Václav Havel	130	70.65	Runner-up	146	52.3	Won	—
2003		Jan Sokol	128	46.55	Runner-up	129	48.13	Runner-up	124	46.6	Lost

European Parliament

Year	Vote	Vote %	Seats	Place
2004	39,655	1.7	0 / 24	8th

Leaders

Leader	Period
Jan Ruml	2 February 1998 – December 1999[5]
Karel Kühnl	February 2000 – 2002[5]
Hana Marvanová	2002[5]
Ivan Pilip (interim)	July 2002 – January 2003[20][21]
Petr Mares	January 2003 – July 2004[15]
Pavel Němec	July 2004 – 2006[5][15]
Jan Černý	June 2007 – 2011[5]

References

1. "Unie". Archived from the original on 22 August 2005. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
2. Democracy in the European Union: Towards the emergence of a public sphere. Routledge. 27 September 2006. pp. 172–174. ISBN 113422432X. Retrieved 6 September 2012.
3. "Unie svobody – zoufalé hledání identity". www.witzany.cz. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
4. "US-DEU: The Freedom Union – Democratic Union". Radio Prague. Retrieved 6 September 2012.
5. Fawn, Rick; Hochman, Jiří (2010). Historical Dictionary of the Czech State (2nd ed.). Scarecrow Press. pp. 103–104. ISBN 978-0810856486. Retrieved 6 September 2012.
6. Larsen, Ross; Mortkowitz, Siegfried (18 December 1997). "Klaus's Titanic sinks, but captain refuses to leave party". The Slovak Spectator. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
7. Fawn, Rick (2000). The Czech Republic: A Nation of Velvet. Harwood Academic. pp. 70–77.^{[ISBN missing]}
8. Shepherd, Robin (2000). Czechoslovakia: The Velvet Revolution and Beyond. Houndmills: Macmillan. pp. 71–72.^{[ISBN missing]}
9. Green, Peter S (22 June 1998). "Czech Vote Opens Way to Klaus, Surprise Outcome Gives Rightists Chance to Form Coalition". International Herald Tribune. HighBeam Research. Archived from the original on 7 April 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
10. "Czech Republic: parliamentary elections senat, 1998". Inter-parliamentary Union. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
11. "Czech Republic: Czech opposition party elects new leader". Info Prod Research. HighBeam Research. 29 February 2000. Archived from the original on 9 April 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
12. Day, Alan J; East, Roger; Thomas, Richard (2002). A Political and Economic Dictionary of Eastern Europe. London: Europa Publications. p. 221.^{[ISBN missing]}
13. Rybarova, Nadia (17 June 2002). "Czech Socialists Begin Talks to Form Government". The Independent.^{[dead link]}
14. "Czech opposition party calls for a confidence vote on the government". HighBeam Research. Associated Press. 14 June 2004. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
15. Janicek, Karel (27 June 2004). "Czech president cuts foreign trip short to handle political crisis at home". HighBeam Research. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 12 March 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
16. Janicek, Karel (13 November 2004). "Opposition makes gains in Czech Senate elections". HighBeam Research. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 25 January 2013. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
17. "News". Radio Prague. 5 June 2006. Archived from the original on 10 February 2013. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
18. Split from ODS in 1998
19. Participated in Coalition with KDU-ČSL
20. "News of Radio Prague". Radio Prague. 4 July 2002. Archived from the original on 11 February 2013. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
21. Asiedu, Dita (21 January 2003). "Will new Freedom Union leader help to strengthen party?". Radio Prague. Retrieved 3 September 2012.

External links

• Freedom Union–Democratic Union official site