Rally for the Republic – Republican Party of Czechoslovakia

The Rally for the Republic – Republican Party of Czechoslovakia (Czech: Sdružení pro republiku - Republikánská strana Československa, abbreviated to Republikáni or SPR–RSČ) is a minor political party in the Czech Republic, strongly opposed to the EU, NATO and immigration. The party and its leader Miroslav Sládek are particularly known for their radical attitudes towards Roma people (antiziganism) and Germans.

Rally for the Republic – Republican Party of Czechoslovakia Sdružení pro republiku – Republikánská strana Československa
Leader	Miroslav Sládek
Founded	1989 (2016)
Headquarters	Štefánikova 50, Brno
Youth wing	Republican Youth
Ideology	Czech nationalism[1][2] Right-wing populism[1][3][4] Moravian autonomism[5] Anti-Germanism[1][6] Antiziganism[1]
Political position	Far-right[3][7][8][9]
European affiliation	Euronat
Colours	White, Red, Blue
Party flag
Website
http://www.spr-rsc.cz/
Politics of the Czech Republic Political parties Elections

History

The party was founded on December 30, 1989 as one of the first political parties in post-communist Czechoslovakia. It peaked in the 1996 Czech legislative election with 8% of the vote (485,072 electors, 18 seats in the 200-seat Chamber of Deputies) but declined after that, and in 2001 disbanded due to financial irregularities – specifically the theft of party funds by the chairman, who used the money to fund his luxury lifestyle.^[10]

The party was reestablished in 2001 as Republicans of Miroslav Sládek (RMS, Republikáni Miroslava Sládka). Sládek immediately set up a new party; to distinguish it from the other "republican" parties his name was added. The new party failed to attract a significant number of votes (0.9% during 2002 Czech legislative election was the highest). For the 2006 elections RMS joined with the National Party, which obtained 0.1% of votes. The number of active members was estimated to be in the dozens at most.^[11]

On May 17, 2008 this new party merged with five other minor parties to form the SPR–RSČ. The renewed party chose Sládek as chairman, yet even after the merger the party failed to gain political traction. For non-compliance with statutory obligations, the Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic (acting on a Czech government proposal) decided in December 2010 to temporarily suspend the Republican party's activities. Finally, on 15 May 2013, the Court ordered its complete dissolution.

The party was reestablished once again in February 2016 under the name Rally for the Republic – Republican Party of Czechoslovakia 2016.^[12]

Election results

Czech National Council

Year	Vote	Vote %	Seats	Place
1990	72,048	1.00	0 / 200	10th
1992	387,026	5.98	14 / 200	6th

Slovak National Council

Year	Vote	Vote %	Seats	Place
1990	7,023	0.21	0 / 150	13th
1992	10,069	0.33	0 / 150	16th

Chamber of Deputies

Year	Vote	Vote %	Seats	Place
1996	485,072	8.01	18 / 200	5th
1998	232,965	3.90	0 / 200	6th
2002	46,325	0.97	0 / 200	7th
2006[13]	9,341	0.18	0 / 200	15th
2010	1,993	0.03	0 / 200	19th
2017	9,857	0.19	0 / 200	17th

European Parliament

Year	Vote	Vote %	Seats	Place
2004	15,767	0.67	0 / 24	11th
2009	7,492	0.32	0 / 24	19th
2019	4,284	0.18	0 / 24	24th

Presidential

Indirect Election	Candidate	First round result			Second round result			Third round result
		Votes	%Votes	Result	Votes	%Votes	Result	Votes	%Votes	Result
1993	Miroslav Sládek	14	8.1	3rd place	—
1998	Miroslav Sládek	23	12.5	3rd place	—

References

1. Mudde, Cas (2005). Racist Extremism in Central and Eastern Europe. Psychology Press. p. 30. ISBN 9780415355940.
2. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2023). Parties and Elections in Europe: Parliamentary Elections and Governments since 1945, European Parliament Elections, Political Orientation and History of Parties. BoD – Books on Demand. p. 131. ISBN 9783734706691.
3. Havlík, Vlastimil; Kluknavská, Alena (5 March 2023). "Our people first (again)! The impact of the Russia-Ukraine War on the populist Radical Right in the Czech Republic". European Center for Populism Studies. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
4. Mareš, Miroslav (2000). Constituing the Far Right in the Czech Party System. Development of the SPR-RSČ from the turn of 1989/1990 to Parliamentary Election 1992 (in Czech). p. 1.
5. Minkenberg, Michael (2015). Transforming the Transformation?: The East European Radical Right in the Political Process. Routledge. p. 213. ISBN 9781317549390.
6. O'Dwyer, Conor (2018). Coming Out of Communism: The Emergence of LGBT Activism in Eastern Europe. NYU Press. p. 75. ISBN 9781479851485.
7. Czyżniewski, Marcin (2021). "Dynamika systemu partyjnego Republiki Czeskiej" [The Dynamics of the Party System in the Czech Republic]. Historia i Politika. 38 (45). Toruń: Nicolaus Copernicus University, Faculty of Political Science and Security Studies: 178. doi:10.12775/HiP.2021.041. ISSN 1899-5160.
8. Havlík, Vlastimil; Hloušek, Vít; Kaniok, Petr (2017). Europeanised Defiance – Czech Euroscepticism since 2004. Verlag Barbara Budrich [de]. p. 63. ISBN 9783847410850.
9. Hasselmann, Chris (2006). Policy Reform and the Development of Democracy in Eastern Europe. Ashgate Publishing. p. 124. ISBN 9780754646372.
10. Zenkner, Petr (June 5, 2013). "On byl první. Populista i politický podnikatel" [He was the first. Populist and political entrepreneur]. Demokratický střed (in Czech). Retrieved November 25, 2014.
11. Svobodová, Ivana (March 19, 2006). "Sládek: Politiku jsem ještě nevzdal" [Sládek: I haven't given up politics yet]. iDNES.cz (in Czech). Mladá fronta DNES. Retrieved November 25, 2014.
12. "REPUBLIKÁNI JSOU ZPĚT!". sprrsc.cz. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
13. joined National Party

External links

• Official website (in Czech)