Czech Political System

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Czech Political System

The Czech republic is a sovereign, united and democratic state. Its political system is based on written constitution, that was made in 1993 and consists of 8 heads and Declaration of Human rights. Government is divided into tree branches - the legislative, represented by the Parliament

the executive, represented mainly by the president, and the government

the judicial, represented by courts at various levels

The Parliament

The Parliament consists of two chambers - the Chamber of Deputies (200 Deputies) the Senate (81 Senators)

These 281 people have the exclusive duty of making laws. These two groups of members of Parliament differ in the way in which they are elected and in the length of the terms they serve. The elections to the Chamber of Deputies take place every four years while every two years one third of the Senators is renewed. When these time come, every citizen from the age of 18 can exercise the universal, equal, direct and secret right to vote.

The Parliament's main task is to pass laws, ratify international treaties and decide on sending troops abroad.

The parliament is a law-making. A new law-to-be, a bill can be proposed by a deputy a group of deputies, the Senate, the government, or higher-level (local) authorities. The bill first goes to the Chamber of Deputies which debates and ultimately votes on it. A bill that has been passed by the Chamber of Deputies is then submitted to the Senate where the process begins a new. The law (act) must be approved by the government. A law must be signed by the head of the Ch. of Deputies, the prime minister, and the president.

The President

The president is elected every five years by the Parliament but no one can serve more than two terms in offices in a row.

The president represents the abroad and concludes foreign treaties. He has also many duties in relation to the other bodies of government: he appoints all judges, general of the army, ambassadors and other officials.

The president is also the commander-in-chef of the army. In the law-making process he can exercise the power of veto that means not signing a bill within the assigned 15 days and returning it to the Parliament.

In relation to the judicial power he can grant a pardon to a connived person or declare an amnesty.

His task is also to call a general election. The leader of the winning party is then appointed the prime minister and on his suggestion the president makes appointments of all the other members of the government.

The Government

The government is composed of the premier, the vice-premiers, and the ministers. The hierarchy of the executive branch goes further down to the local authorities where the municipality is the smallest unit.

The municipal election take place every four years. The winners from town councils, district authorities etc. The head of the municipal authorities is called a mayor. The several ministries are: Interior, Foreign Affairs, Defence, Justice, Industry, Commerce, Agriculture, Finance, Transport, Labour and Social Affairs, Education, Culture, and Health.