Специфіка розвитку політичного плюралізму в Чеській Республіці.

Abstract

The author investigates the main political tendencies of the Czech society’s political life. Political parties’ participating in the election process and the results of the parliamentary elections have been analyzed. It can be stated that political pluralism principals have been established in the Czech Republic, promoting a transition from the one-party system to the multiparty system. Choosing an effective model of legal regulation of the political parties has assisted in party system establishment. Czech legislators have managed to set such rules which ensured clear mechanism of separating the activities of political parties from big business groups, contribute to preventing excessive political system fragmentation and strengthening the most influential political subjects. Concerning the type of the voting system, its effectiveness for the party system should be mentioned at present. Despite that initially, there have been such rules in the electoral law that complied with international election process standards of organising and conducting democratic elections, there are several drawbacks in it. It concerns, first of all, the formula of transferring electors’ votes into deputy’s seats. Such a situation stimulates the Czech political elite to the discussion regarding the search for optimal election system model. Based on material studied, the author has reached a conclusion that the functional party system of the western European type has been established in the Czech Republic. The process of multiparty development in the country is nearly finished. It does not exclude the possibility of new parties’ appearing in the political arena, but they need time in order to gain prestige in the society. The Civic Democratic Party and the Czech Social Democratic party have been the biggest political parties for a long time which have been the key rivals at the elections. However, they were not powerful enough to form the two-party system in the Czech Republic as they could not form the government without the support of other subjects of political life.