KDU-ČSL

KDU-ČSL (In Czech, the initials of the Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party;^[15] Czech: Křesťanská a demokratická unie – Československá strana lidová), often shortened to lidovci ("the populars"), is a Christian democratic^[4][5] political party in the Czech Republic, led by Marek Výborný. The party has taken part in most of the Czech government coalitions since 1990, and has been represented in every parliament except for the 6th Czech parliament (2010-2013). It currently forms part of the Cabinet of Petr Fiala, as part of the Spolu electoral alliance.

Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party Křesťanská a demokratická unie – Československá strana lidová
Abbreviation	KDU-ČSL
Chairman	Marek Výborný
Deputy Leaders	Pavel Bělobrádek Monika Brzesková [cs] Jiří Horák Eduard Hulicius Václav Pláteník
Secretary General	Pavel Hořava
Chamber of Deputies Leader	Aleš Dufek
Senate Leader	Josef Klement
MEP Leader	Tomáš Zdechovský
Founder	Jan Šrámek
Founded	3 January 1919; 106 years ago (1919-01-03)
Merger of	MSKSSM, KNKSM, ČKSSKČ, KNKSČ, KSL
Headquarters	Palác Charitas, Karlovo náměstí 5, Prague
Newspaper	Nový Hlas
Think tank	Institute for Christian Democratic Politics
Youth wing	Young Populars
Women's wing	Women's Association
Membership	18,600[1]
Ideology	Christian democracy Green conservatism[6] Social conservatism[9]
Political position	Centre[10] to centre-right[13]
National affiliation	SPOLU
European affiliation	European People's Party
European Parliament group	European People's Party Group
International affiliation	Centrist Democrat International
Colors	Yellow   Blue[14]
Chamber of Deputies	22 / 200
Senate	12 / 81
European Parliament	1 / 21
Regional councils	49 / 685
Governors of the regions	1 / 13
Local councils	4,066 / 62,178
Party flag
Website
kdu.cz
Politics of the Czech Republic Political parties Elections

History

After the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, Šrámek served as head of Czechoslovak government in exile (in the United Kingdom). After 1945, ČSL was part of the national unity government, forming its most right-wing section.^[16]

Since the Velvet Revolution in 1989, the party has participated in almost every Czech government. In the June 2006 legislative election, KDU-ČSL won 7.2% of the vote and 13 out of 200 seats. However, in the 2010 election, its vote share dropped to 4.4%, and the party lost all of its seats. The party regained its parliamentary representation in the 2013 legislative election, winning 14 seats in the new parliament,^[17] thus becoming the first party ever to return to the Chamber of Deputies after previously dropping out.

In 2015, the KDU-ČSL leadership established a think tank, the Institute for Christian Democratic Politics (Institut pro křesťansko-demokratickou politiku), to promote Christian Democratic political ideas.^[18] The foundation's headquarters are located in the party's headquarters in Palác Charitas in Prague.^[19]

On 12 April 2017, KDU-ČSL signed an agreement with STAN to participate in 2017 legislative election as a coalition. Coalition needed to get more 10% of votes get over threshold.^[20] The coalition disintegrated before the election,^[21] thus the party went into the elections standalone, receiving 5.8% of votes.

In March 2019 the party was officially renamed to its common abbreviation, KDU-ČSL, and Marek Výborný became the new party leader.^[22] After the death of his wife, Výborný announced his resignation in November 2019 for personal reasons.^[23]

Membership

KDU-ČSL had 27,662 Members in 2015, the second largest member base of any party in the Czech Republic. The number has been decreasing since the 1990s when the party had 100,000 members.^[24]

1991	1992	1999	2008	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2019
95,435	88,000	60,000	40,000[25]	33,000	29,976	28,541	27,662[26]	26,420[27]	21,870

Party strongholds

KDU-ČSL is known to have very strong electoral core concentrated primarily in South Moravia. The party has very stable electoral support thanks to the rural voters in Moravia and has managed to gain seats in the Chamber of Deputies during every election cycle in the Czech Republic since 1990 with the exception of 2010.^[28]

Names over time

Headquarters of KDU ČSL, Charitas Palace in Prague

• 1919–1992 The Czechoslovak People's Party (Československá strana lidová) – merger of Moravian-Silesian Christian Social Party in Moravia, Catholic-National Conservative Party in Moravia, Czech Christian Social Party in the Kingdom of Bohemia and Catholic-National Conservative Party in Bohemia, Conservative People's Party.
• 1992–2019 The Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party (Křesťanská a demokratická unie – Československá strana lidová)
• Since 2019 KDU-ČSL - after renaming to party' abbreviation.

Leaders

Ex leader and mayor of Zlín region Jiří Čunek

• Jan Šrámek (1922–1948)
• Alois Petr (1948–1951)
• Josef Plojhar (1951–1968)
• Antonín Pospíšil (1968–1973)
• Rostislav Petera (1973–1980)
• František Toman (1980–1981)
• Zbyněk Žalman (1981–1989)
• Josef Bartončík (1989–1990)
• Josef Lux (1990–1998)
• Jan Kasal (1999–2001)
• Cyril Svoboda (2001–2003)
• Miroslav Kalousek (2003–2006)
• Jan Kasal (2006)
• Jiří Čunek (2006–2009)
• Cyril Svoboda (2009–2010)
• Michaela Šojdrová (2010)
• Pavel Bělobrádek (2010–2019)
• Marek Výborný (2019–2020)
• Marian Jurečka (2020–2024)
• Marek Výborný (Since 2024)

Young Populars

Young Populars logo

The party's youth wing, for those aged 15-35, is the Young Populars (Czech: Mladí lidovci, ML), founded in 2012.^{[citation needed]} In June 2021, the Young Christian Democrats (1998–2021) was merged with the Young Populars, to form one single youth wing of the party. Environment Minister Petr Hladík was president of ML from 2012–2015.^{[citation needed]}

Symbols

KDU-ČSL had many symbols through history, with the current logo depicting a Christian cross on a linden leaf.^[29]

Logos

• 
  Party symbol, 1930s
• 
  Party logo, 1945–1992
• 
  Party logo, 1992–2006
• 
  Party logo, 2006–2012
• 
  Current logo, since 2012
• 
  Electoral logo, 2024

Election results

Czechoslovakia wide elections

Legislative elections

Date	Leader	Votes		Seats			Position
		#	%	#	±	Size
1920	Collective leadership	699,728	11.3	33 / 281	33	2nd	Opposition
1925	Jan Šrámek	691,238	9.7	31 / 300	2	3rd	Coalition
1929	Jan Šrámek	623,340	8.4	25 / 300	6	5th	Coalition
1935	Jan Šrámek	615,804	7.5	22 / 300	3	6th	Coalition
1946	Jan Šrámek	1,111,009	15.7	46 / 300	24	3rd	Coalition
1948	as part of National Front			23 / 300	23	4th	Bloc
1954				20 / 368	3	3rd	Bloc
1960				16 / 300	4	4th	Bloc
1964				20 / 300	4	4th	Bloc
1971				8 / 200	12	4th	Bloc
1976				11 / 200	3	4th	Bloc
1981				12 / 200	1	3rd	Bloc
1986				11 / 200	1	4th	Bloc
1990	Josef Bartončík	629,359	5.9	9 / 150	2	5th	Support
1992	Josef Lux	388,122	4.0	7 / 150	2	7th	Coalition

Devolved assembly elections

Czech assembly elections

Date	Leader	Votes		Seats			Position
		#	%	#	±	Size
1968	as part of National Front			25 / 200	25	3rd	Bloc
1971				15 / 200	10	2nd	Bloc
1976				14 / 200	1	3rd	Bloc
1981				14 / 200	0	2nd	Bloc
1986				14 / 200	0	2nd	Bloc
1990	Josef Bartončík	607,134	8.42	20 / 200	6	4th	Coalition
1992	Josef Lux	406,341	6.28	15 / 200	5	5th	Coalition

Slovak assembly elections

Date	Leader	Votes		Seats			Position
		#	%	#	±	Size
1928	Martin Mičura	43,689	3.31	2 / 54	2	8th	–
1935	Martin Mičura	–	3.0	1 / 54	1	8th	–

Czech Republic wide elections

Legislative elections

Date	Leader	Votes		Seats			Position
		#	%	#	±	Size
1996	Josef Lux	489,349	8.08	18 / 200	3	4th	ODS–KDU-ČSL–ODA
1998	Josef Lux	537,013	8.99	20 / 200	2	4th	Opposition
2002	Cyril Svoboda	680,670	14.27	22 / 200	11	4th	ČSSD–KDU-ČSL–US-DEU
	Part of Coalition, which won 31 seats in total
2006	Miroslav Kalousek	386,706	7.23	13 / 200	18	4th	ODS–KDU-ČSL–SZ
2010	Cyril Svoboda	229,717	4.39	0 / 200	13	6th	No seats
2013	Pavel Bělobrádek	336.970	6.78	14 / 200	14	7th	ČSSD–ANO–KDU-ČSL
2017	Pavel Bělobrádek	293,643	5.80	10 / 200	4	7th	Opposition
2021	Marian Jurečka	1,493,701	27.79	23 / 200	13	2nd	SPOLU – PirStan
	Part of Spolu coalition, which won 71 seats in total

Senate elections

Election	First round			Second round			Seats gained
	Votes	%	Places*	Votes	%	Places*
1996**	274,316	9.9	4th	247,819	10.7	3rd	13 / 81
1998***	255,785	26.6	2nd	166,483	31.0	2nd	5 / 27
2000	121,355	14.1	4th	137,515	24.4	2nd	8 / 27
2002	58,858	8.8	4th	47,049	5.7	4th	1 / 27
2004	97,956	13.5	3rd	54,501	11.4	3rd	3 / 27
2006	125,388	11.8	4th	59,603	10.4	3rd	4 / 27
2008	82,870	7.9	-	42,225	5.13	-	0 / 27
2010	87,182	7.6	4th	42,990	6.32	4th	2 / 27
2012	61,006	6.94	4th	14,995	2.92	4th	1 / 27
2014	84,328	8.21	5th	77,103	16.27	2nd	4 / 27
2016	74,709	8.48	5th	78,448	18.50	2nd	6 / 27
2018	99,383	9.12	4th	34,833	8.33	5th	2 / 27
2020	82,814	8.30	4th	65,397	14.47	3rd	3 / 27
2022	120,972	10.87	3rd	74,696	15.57	3rd	7 / 27
2024	46,518	5.86	4th	15,635	4.00	5th	2 / 27

^* Places are by number of votes gained.
^** The whole Senate was elected. Only one third of Senate was elected in all subsequent elections.
^***Participated as Part of Four-Coalition

Presidential

Indirect Election	Candidate		First round result			Second round result			Third round result
			Votes	%Votes	Result	Votes	%Votes	Result	Votes	%Votes	Result
1993		Václav Havel	109	63.37	Won	—
1998		Václav Havel	130	70.65	Runner-up	146	52.3	Won	—
2003		(Petr Pithart) Jan Sokol	128	46.55	Runner-up	129	48.13	Runner-up	124	46.6	Lost
2008		Václav Klaus[30]	141	50.90	Runner-up	141	52.81	Runner-up	141	55.95	Won

Direct Election	Candidate		First round result			Second round result
			Votes	%Votes	Result	Votes	%Votes	Result
2013		Zuzana Roithová	255,045	4.95	6th	supported Karel Schwarzenberg
2018		Jiří Drahoš	1,369,601	26.60	Runner-up	2,701,206	48.63	Lost
2023[a]		Petr Pavel	1,975,056	35.40	Runner-up	3,358,926	58.33	Won
		Danuše Nerudová	777,080	13.93	3rd place	supported Petr Pavel
		Pavel Fischer	376,705	6.75	4th place	supported Petr Pavel

1. The SPOLU coalition supported 3 independent candidates for this election.

European Parliament

Election	List leader	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	EP Group
2004	Zuzana Roithová	223,383	9.57 (#4)	2 / 24	New	EPP-ED
2009		180,451	7.64 (#4)	2 / 22	0	EPP
2014	Pavel Svoboda	150,792	9.95 (#5)	3 / 22	1
2019		171,723	7.24 (#6)	2 / 21	1
2024[a]	Alexandr Vondra	661,250	22.27 (#2)	1 / 21	1

1. Run as part of the SPOLU coalition.

Local elections

Year	Vote	Vote %	Seats
1990	8,845,562	11,5	8,083
1994	9,260,542	7.23	7,616
1998	7,206,346	11.18	7,119
2002	7,728,402	9.58	6,013
2006	6,263,980	5.76	5,049
2010	4,938,960	5.47	3,738
2014	4,865,956	4.91	3,792
2018	5,599,336	5.02	3,633

Regional elections

Year	Vote	Vote %	Seats	Places
2000	537,012	22.86	72 / 675	2nd
2004	226,016	10.67	84 / 675	4th
2008	193,911	6.65	56 / 675	4th
2012	261,724	9.87	61 / 675	4th
2016	159,610	6.30	61 / 675	5th
2020	252,598	9.12	53 / 675	5th

2020 Czech regional election results

Region[31]	Coalition partner	# of overall votes	% of overall vote	Seats			Governance[32]
				#	±	Position
Central Bohemian	STAN	92,903	22.21	2 / 65	2	5th	STAN–ODS–Pirates–TOP 09+Greens-Voice
South Bohemian	TOP 09	20,798	10.45	4 / 55		6th	ODS–KDU-ČSL+TOP 09–ČSSD–JIH12
Plzeň	ADS and Non-Partisans	7,588	4.36	—	2	11th	ODS+TOP 09–STAN–Pirates
Karlovy Vary	ODS	5,870	7.35	2 / 45	1	8th	STAN+TOP 09-Pirates-ODS+KDU ČSL-Local movements
Ústí nad Labem	ODS	24,739	12.37	1 / 55	1	8th	ANO–ODS–TOP 09+Greens
Liberec	TOP 09	5,328	3.83	—		7th	Mayors for Liberec Region–Pirates–ODS
Hradec Králové	VPM and Non-Partisans	14,738	8.32	4 / 45		5th	ODS+STAN+VČ–KDU-ČSL–Pirates–TOP 09+HDK
Pardubice	SNK-ED and Non-Partisans	22,280	13.41	4 / 45	1	5th	ČSSD–ODS+TOP 09–KDU-ČSL–STAN
Vysočina	—	19,082	11.96	6 / 45	1	3rd	ODS+STO–Pirates–KDU-ČSL–ČSSD–STAN
South Moravian	—	56,423	15.54	11 / 65		2nd	KDU-ČSL–Pirates–ODS–STAN
Olomouc	TOP 09 and Greens	34,519	18.43	6 / 55	1	4th	STAN+Pirates–KDU-ČSL+TOP 09–ODS
Zlín	—	35,782	18.62	9 / 45	3	2nd	ANO–Pirates–ODS–ČSSD
Moravian-Silesian	—	30,190	9.57	7 / 65	1	4th	ANO–ODS+TOP 09–KDU-ČSL–ČSSD

Further reading

• Brenner, Christiane; Gehler, Michael; Kaiser, Wolfram (2004). "A Missed Opportunity to Oppose State Socialism? The People's Party in Chechoslavakia". Christian Democracy in Europe since 1945. Routledge. pp. 151–168. ISBN 0-7146-5662-3.
• Suppan, Arnold (2004). "Catholic People's Parties in East Central Europe: The Bohemian Lands and Slovakia". Political Catholicism in Europe 1918-1945. Vol. 1. Routledge. pp. 178–192.

Notes