The
Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic , usually referred to as
Senát, is the upper chamber of the
Parliament of the Czech RepublicThe Parliament of the Czech Republic is the legislative body of the Czech Republic, based in Prague.It consists of two chambers, both directly-elected:* the Chamber of Deputies - lower house, more powerful one...
. The seat of the Senate is
Wallenstein PalaceWallenstein Palace is a Baroque palace in Malá Strana, Prague, currently the home of the Czech Senate.-History:The original Palace was built in years 1623-1630 by Albrecht Wenzel von Wallenstein, Duke of Mecklenburg , who made his name and fortune as the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial forces...
in
PraguePrague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Nicknames for Prague have included "the mother of cities" , "city of a hundred spires", or Stověžatá Praha in Czech and "the golden city" or Zlaté město in Czech.Situated on the River Vltava in central Bohemia, Prague has been the...
.
The Senate has 81 members, elected for six years, every two years one third of them, in one-seat constituencies through two rounds majority system (the second round is between two candidates with highest number of votes from the first round – if no candidate obtains 50+% majority in the first round).
The
Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic , usually referred to as
Senát, is the upper chamber of the
Parliament of the Czech RepublicThe Parliament of the Czech Republic is the legislative body of the Czech Republic, based in Prague.It consists of two chambers, both directly-elected:* the Chamber of Deputies - lower house, more powerful one...
. The seat of the Senate is
Wallenstein PalaceWallenstein Palace is a Baroque palace in Malá Strana, Prague, currently the home of the Czech Senate.-History:The original Palace was built in years 1623-1630 by Albrecht Wenzel von Wallenstein, Duke of Mecklenburg , who made his name and fortune as the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial forces...
in
PraguePrague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Nicknames for Prague have included "the mother of cities" , "city of a hundred spires", or Stověžatá Praha in Czech and "the golden city" or Zlaté město in Czech.Situated on the River Vltava in central Bohemia, Prague has been the...
.
Structure
The Senate has 81 members, elected for six years, every two years one third of them, in one-seat constituencies through two rounds majority system (the second round is between two candidates with highest number of votes from the first round – if no candidate obtains 50+% majority in the first round). Candidate to the Senate does not need to be on a political party's ticket (unlike the lower chamber).
The senate has one President and four Vice-Presidents.. Its members participate in specialised committees and commissions.
The Senate Chancellery has been created to provide professional, organisational and technical services. The Senate occupies several historical palaces in centre of Prague, in
Malá StranaMalá Strana is a district of the city of Prague, Czech Republic, and one of its most historic regions.The name translated into English literally means "Little Side", though it is frequently referred to as "Lesser Town", "Lesser Quarter", or "Lesser Side"...
quarter. In 2005 its budget was 561.2 million
CZKThe Czech koruna or Czech crown has been the currency of the Czech Republic since 8 February 1993 when, together with its Slovak counterpart, it replaced the Czechoslovak koruna at par....
.
Powers
The Senate can delay a proposed law approved by the
Chamber of DeputiesThe Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic is the lower house of the Parliament of the Czech Republic; the other is the Senate....
but this
vetoA veto, Latin for "I forbid", is used to denote that a certain party has the right to stop unilaterally a piece of legislation. In practice, the veto can be absolute A veto, Latin for "I forbid", is used to denote that a certain party has the right to stop unilaterally a piece of legislation....
can be overridden by an absolute majority of all members of the
Chamber of DeputiesThe Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic is the lower house of the Parliament of the Czech Republic; the other is the Senate....
(i.e. 101 of 200) in a repeated vote.
Senators have, with others, the right to take part in electing the President of the Republic and the judges of the Constitutional Court, and may propose new laws. However, the Senate does not get to vote on the state budget and is not expected to supervise the executive directly, unlike the Chamber.
The President [Speaker or Chairperson] of the Senate is the second-highest official of the Czech Republic, after
President of the Republic, for ceremonial purposes, but without any real power.
History
The Senate was established in constitutional law of the Czech National Council (ČNR) No. 1/1993 on 16 December 1992.. The immediate reason for its creation was a need to find a place for members of the Federal Assembly,
dissolvedThe dissolution of Czechoslovakia, which took effect on 1 January 1993, saw Czechoslovakia split into two separate countries: the Czech Republic and Slovakia...
together with
CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
. Other reasons given were the positioning of the Senate as a safety device ("
pojistka") correcting laws endorsed by lower chamber and as a power balancing tool against the dominance of a single party.
Due to opposition by the
Civic Democratic AllianceThe Civic Democratic Alliance was a small liberal right-wing political party in the Czech Republic, functional between years 1989 and 2007.-History:...
(who had members in ČNR, the new lower chamber, but not in the Federal Assembly) and those politicians fearing dilution of power the Senate was not set up. The first elections were held in 1996, with voter turnout around 35% (much lower than turnout for the lower chamber). Further elections were held in 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006 with steadily decreasing turnout (the lowest ever was around 10%, in many constituencies below 20%).
Senators and members of the CabinetThe Government of the Czech Republic since January 9, 2007 was formed by a coalition of the victorious Civic Democratic Party with the small Christian and Democratic Union - Czechoslovak People's Party and the Green Party...
Members of the Senate of the Czech Republic include these:
- Jiří Čunek
Jiří Čunek is a Czech politician who was chairman of the Christian and Democratic Union - Czechoslovak People's Party from December 2006 to May 2009...
- Chairman of the People's Party, Deputy Prime minister and Minister of Regional development
- Tomáš Julínek
Tomáš Julínek is a Czech politician and physician. From 2006 to 2009, Julínek served as the Minister of Health of the Czech Republic. He is a member of the Civic Democratic Party.-Career:...
- Minister of Health
- Karel Schwarzenberg
HSH Prince Karel Schwarzenberg is a Czech politician.His full name is Karl Johannes Nepomuk Josef Norbert Friedrich Antonius Wratislaw Mena von Schwarzenberg. He is a scion and current head of the House of Schwarzenberg, the eldest son of Prince Karl VI of Schwarzenberg and Princess Antonie von...
- Minister of Foreign Affairs
- Alexandr Vondra
Alexandr "Saša" Vondra was the foreign minister of the Czech Republic from 4 September 2006 to 9 January 2007 and Senator for Litoměřice district for the Civic Democratic Party since autumn Czech Senate election, 2006...
- former Minister of Foreign Affairs, current Deputy Prime minister for European Affairs
External links