Voting Dissent of MPs in the Czech Republic

Abstract

Members of parliament (MPs) and parties enjoy mutually beneficial cooperation in a legislature. Nonetheless, representatives often face cross-pressure from more than one principal, which may result in a voting dissent. Since the voting dissent of MPs in the Czech Republic has been scrutinised only on the party level, I present the very first study dealing with individual aspects of voting rebellion. The pioneering results show that between 1993 and 2017 MPs voted against a parliamentary party group (PPG) chairman more often than against the majority of PPG colleagues. The frequency of voting dissent remained the same, on average, during legislative terms regardless of an approaching election. Next, the analyses show that being a male MP, enjoying more parliamentary experience, and holding a ministerial mandate are factors that increase the chances of individual voting dissent. Conversely, voting dissent decreases for MPs from a ruling party, and for PPG (vice-)chairmen. The results imply that voting rebels attend fewer roll calls and abstain more compared to other MPs. As MPs vote against the majority of their party counterparts, they elucidate such a contradiction at plenary sessions. Overall, MPs adjust their parliamentary behaviour more if they vote against the majority of party colleagues than against a PPG chairman.