List of presidents of the Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a parliamentary representative democracy in which the president is the head of state and the prime minister is the head of government.

The first president of the Czech Republic was Václav Havel. The current president, Petr Pavel, was sworn into office on 9 March 2023.

Until 2012, presidents were elected by the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate for a term of five years. Since 2013, presidents have been elected by popular vote.

Presidents of the Czech Republic

Political parties

  Civic Democratic Party (ODS)

  Party of Civic Rights (SPO)

Other factions

  Independent

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Election	Term of office			Party	Previous office(s)
				Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Václav Havel (1936–2011)	1993 1998	2 February 1993	2 February 2003	10 years	Independent	President of Czechoslovakia (1989–1992)
2		Václav Klaus (born 1941)	2003 2008	7 March 2003	7 March 2013	10 years	ODS	Prime Minister (1992–1998) President of the Chamber of Deputies (1998–2002)
3		Miloš Zeman (born 1944)	2013 2018	8 March 2013	8 March 2023	10 years	SPO	President of the Chamber of Deputies (1996–1998) Prime Minister (1998–2002)
4		Petr Pavel (born 1961)	2023	9 March 2023	Incumbent	2 years, 71 days	Independent	Chief of the General Staff (2012–2015) Chair of the NATO Military Committee (2015–2018)

Timeline

Languages spoken by the presidents of the Czech Republic

All four presidents of the Czech Republic have shown proficiency in languages other than Czech. All presidents are so far fluent in English and Russian language. Václav Klaus is the president who is proficient in the most languages.

Václav Havel

Václav Havel spoke some English and used it repeatedly during his tenure as president as he was reading several speeches in English.^[1] Havel most notably used his English when he gave a speech to a Joint session of the United States Congress on 21 February 1990, which he started in English but continued in Czech after a few sentences, and the speech was translated by Michael Žantovský, then spokesman of Občanské fórum.^[2] Žantovský later jokingly claimed that Havel made his famous speech only to him and it was him, Žantovský, who actually spoke to US Congress.^[3] Havel also knew Russian, which he learned at school.^[4]

Václav Klaus

Václav Klaus is fluent in English, Russian, German, and Italian.^[4] He published a number of publications in English and German languages. Klaus stated that his proficiency with foreign languages was helped by studies of international trade at the Prague University of Economics and Business, where he was required to learn at least three foreign languages.^[5]

Miloš Zeman

Miloš Zeman is fluent in English, Russian, and German. He used English and Russian during his tenure while talking to foreign politicians.^[6][7]

Petr Pavel

Petr Pavel is fluent in English, Russian, and French.^[4] Pavel reportedly has known English well since his youth, which helps his career in the army as only few people there knew the language.^[8] Pavel learned French during an intelligence course in 1988–89.^[9]

Comparison table

President	English	Russian	German	French	Italian
Václav Havel	Fluent	Fluent
Václav Klaus	Fluent	Fluent	Fluent	Fluent	Fluent
Miloš Zeman	Fluent	Fluent	Fluent
Petr Pavel	Fluent	Fluent		Fluent

See also

• List of rulers of Czechs
• List of presidents of Czechoslovakia
• List of prime ministers of Czechoslovakia
• List of prime ministers of the Czech Socialist Republic
• List of rulers of the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia
• List of prime ministers of the Czech Republic
• Lists of incumbents