Masaryk university
Czech Governments Since 1992
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- Slovak Governments since 1992
Czech Governments Since 1992The socioeconomic cleavage appeared early in the Czech political system. By the election of 1992 there was a clear right side with one dominating party, Občanská demokratická strana (ODS) and the left represented by several parties.12 By the late 1990s, the Czech political system had consolidated and stabilized.13 ODS remained the dominating right-wing party while Česká strana sociálně demokratická (ČSSD) gained importance as the main left-wing party. In 1992, a right-wing coalition government was formed which would establish and direct a newly independent Czech Republic for the next five years. It consisted of Občanská demokratická strana -Křesťanska demokraticka strana (ODS-KDS), Křesťanská a demokratická unie – Československá strana lidová (KDU-ČSL) and Občanská demokratická alliance (ODA). This coalition withstood the next elections in 1996 although the government collapsed amid a financial scandal in 1997. After an interim government (Tošovský, January - July 1998) premature elections were called in 1998. The 1998 elections resulted in another minority government this time under the leadership of Miloš Zeman and the left-wing ČSSD. Although with combined mandates, a right-wing coalition government consisting of ODS, KDU-ČSL and Unie Svobody (US) could have been created, the parties were unable to come to an agreement concerning the formation of government.14 Therefore in order to avoid calling again premature elections, ČSSD and ODS signed an “Agreement for the Creation of a Stable Political Environment in the Czech Republic” otherwise known as the “opposition agreement”.15 ČSSD remained in government after the 2002 elections and formed a coalition with KDU-ČSL and Unie svobody - Demokratická unie (US-DEU). The leadership of ČSSD and the head of government would change three times during the 2002-2006 electoral term. The Prime Minister and leader of ČSSD, now Vladimír Špidla, resigned in 2004 due to an internal crisis and poor showing in the “Euro-elections”. He was followed by Stanislav Gross who after a scandal involving his personal finances and questionable business activities of his wife was replaced by Jiří Paroubek in 2005.16 So far, Paroubek has remained leader of ČSSD. In the 2006 elections, the right-wing returned to government. The leader of ODS and Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek formed a coalition government with partners KDU-ČSL and Strana zelených (SZ). The election campaign cemented the strong socioeconomic cleavage apparent in Czech politics. The principle parties of both the right (ODS) and the left (ČSSD) political parties increased their share of votes.17 However, forming a government would prove difficult. In the 200 seat parliament, both the coalition government of ODS, KDU-ČSL and SZ, and opposition ČSSD and Komunistická strana Čech a Moravy (KSČM) had 100 seats in parliament. Eventually, two members of ČSSD left their party and the new coalition government gained the vote of confidence from parliament.
Slovak Governments since 1992Until the elections in 2006 one important feature in the Slovak political scene was the instability of political parties.18 New parties were established and gained parliamentary representation in almost every election. The left-right cleavage was not apparent in Slovak politics during the 1990s. Instead, it was a “nature-of-the-system cleavage” that dominated the Slovak political scene.19 A populist party Hnutí za demokratické slovensko (HZDS) led by Vladimír Mečiar won the first election in 1992 and formed a coalition government with an extreme right-wing party, Slovenská národná strana (SNS). HZDS was a centrist party influenced by many different movements such as “populism, nationalism and etatism.”20 Some deputies from SNS grew dissatisfied with Mečiar’s leadership and left the party causing HZDS to lose their majority and forcing early elections in 1994.21 HZDS won the elections again and formed a coalition with the nationalistic SNS and a radical leftist party, Združenie robotníkov Slovenska (ZRS). The period of Mečiar’s government in Slovakia has been characterized as authoritarian. The major complaint was that the government violated basic democratic principles in order to maintain power.22 A new government led by Mikuláš Dzurinda was elected in 1998. It was composed of Slovenská demokratická koalícia (SDK), Strana demokratickej ľavice (SDĽ), Strana maďarskej koalície (SMK) and Strana občianskeho porozumenia (SOP). The repeated democratic violations by Mečiar’s government forced the opposition to cooperate regardless of their political ideologies. SDK, the leading party had formed an election coalition from five political parties Demokratická únia (DÚ), Kresťanskodemokratické hnutie (KDH), Demokratická strana (DS), Sociálnodemokratická strana Slovenska (SDSS) a Strana zelených na Slovensku (SZS). This coalition went across the left-right political spectrum. It included the post-communist, socialist SDĽ as well as conservative, anti-communist KDH.23 What held the coalition government together was the will to reinstate democracy and the focus on foreign policy goals, namely NATO and EU accession.24 The cleavage was Mečiarism vs. anti-Mečiarism.25 Prime Minister Dzurinda succeeded in the 2002 elections although with a slightly different coalition which has been placed as centre-right in the political spectrum.26 It consisted of Slovenská demokratická a kresťanská únia (SDKÚ), Aliancia nového občana (ANO) and two parties from the former coalition, SMK and KDH. In the last parliamentary elections in 2006, the left-wing political party SMER led by Robert Fico formed government. SMER was founded in 1999 by breaking away from SDĽ and presented itself as an alternative to the ruling left-right broad coalition government and opposition parties HZDS and SNS.27 It had strengthened its electoral potential in 2004 when three small left-wing parties; SDĽ, Sociálnodemokratická alternatíva (SDA) and the Sociálnodemokratická strana Slovenska (SDSS) dissolved and joined SMER. Fico formed a government with coalition partners HZDS and SNS, an event that raised some eyebrows in the West for two reasons. The first was that the two parties had previously contributed to the undemocratic tendencies of Slovakia during the 1990s. Secondly, a similar alliance between social democrats and an extreme right-wing party was unprecedented in the history of European social democracy.28 The Party of European Socialists (PES) sent out definite warning signals about the newly formed coalition government. PES expressed its concern of SMER’s adherence to human rights, democracy, European integration and values.29 In 2006, this European party suspended SMER’s membership because of its decision to create a coalition government with an extreme right-wing political party. SMER’s membership was reinstated in 2008.30
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