Document #2038001
Freedom House (Author)
Democracy Percentage | 77.38 / 100 |
Democracy Score | 5.64 / 7 |
By Vladimír Bartovic
On November 17, 2019, the Czech Republic celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution—the start of the country’s transition process from a nondemocratic regime with a centrally planned economy to a full-fledged liberal and parliamentary democracy with a free-market economy. Paradoxically, in 2019, the country witnessed the largest protests since its democratic transition. Around 250,000 people gathered twice, in June and November, to march against the government of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and demand his resignation. The chief reasons for the protests were the accusations of conflict of interest and fraud against PM Babiš, who indirectly owns a conglomerate of hundreds of companies in the media sphere and other sectors of the economy. The protests gathered steam during the year, as more than 430,000 people signed a petition calling for Babiš’s resignation following the sudden departure of the justice minister in April—which triggered the public fear that his replacement could influence the investigation into Babiš’s alleged subvention fraud. Unexpectedly, the prosecution closed the case in September 2019 when the Prague municipal prosecutor’s office concluded that no fraud had taken place. The case was reopened on December 4 by the prosecutor general, Pavel Zeman, who declared that the decision to close the prosecution had been unlawful and premature.
A creeping political crisis took place between May and August as President Miloš Zeman refused to appoint a new culture minister proposed by PM Babiš. Abdicating his constitutional duty, the president’s hostility almost led to the fall of the government coalition when he mocked the junior partner, the Social Democratic Party (ČSSD), and the PM failed to stand up for them. In the end, the Social Democrats had to swallow the defeat and propose a new candidate for culture minister. However, President Zeman’s affront resulted in a Senate lawsuit against him in July for his constitutional breach. The attempt to bring the case in front of the Constitutional Court, which could dismiss the president, failed as it did not receive the necessary consent from the Chamber of Deputies. President Zeman was also active in the country’s foreign policy, often challenging the government’s priorities. This included his adoption of clearly pro-Russian and pro-Chinese political stances.
Despite these issues, the minority government—comprised of PM Babiš’s ANO 2011 party and the ČSSD, with support in Parliament from the Communist Party (KSČM)—was relatively successful in getting laws through the legislative process. The coalition’s majority of 101 seats out of 200 in the Chamber of Deputies was stable, enabling the government to approve laws returned by the Senate.
European Parliament (EP) elections took place in May, and one Senate by-election was organized earlier in April. Both votes were free and fair and met all constitutional requirements. The turnout of 28.72 percent in the 2019 EP elections was more than 10 percentage points higher than in the previous elections but still the second lowest in the European Union (EU) after Slovakia.
The Czech Republic’s civic sector was active and continued to expand in 2019. Local self-governance was stable and was trusted by society. However, the situation in the media sphere was less satisfactory. While journalists still enjoyed broad freedoms and a stable regulatory environment, the concentration of media ownership in the hands of oligarchs gained an even greater share with the purchase of TV Nova (the most-watched private television) by the PPF group, which is owned by the current wealthiest Czech entrepreneur, Petr Kellner. Unfortunately, Czechia (the country’s short-form name in use since 2016) was not exempt from the worldwide trends of spreading disinformation and fake news as well as attacks on the media from extremist politicians. Still, both of the country’s public broadcasters, Czech Television and Czech Radio, along with the Czech News Agency, operated independently and were able to fend off attempts to interfere in their work.
The constitutional environment in the Czech Republic has remained stable since the last changes in 2013. During the year, Parliament debated draft amendments that would, for example, strengthen the competencies of the Supreme Audit Office, give the Senate more time to debate laws approved in the Chamber of Deputies, or make it easier to organize a national referendum. Yet, given the very different composition of the majorities in the Senate (upper house) and Chamber of Deputies (lower house), no constitutional changes were passed in 2019.
Police, the public prosecution, and the court system in Czechia continued to function properly and independently, providing a high standard for the protection of rights. Still, there were several issues that caught public attention in 2019 relating to the independence of the judiciary and the prosecution. In January, President Zeman and his chancellor, Vratislav Mynář, were accused of interfering in court decision-making and trying to influence judges in several cases. In addition, the sudden resignation of the justice minister, Jan Kněžínek, and appointment of his replacement led to allegations that the government’s ultimate aim was to get rid of the prosecutor general and two high-level public prosecutors. In the fall, the new minister of justice proposed an amendment to the Public Prosecutor’s Office Act, which was criticized by the opposition and civil society for potentially facilitating the change of the prosecutor general and high-level public prosecutors within two years.
The fight against corruption has been (at least formally) one of the top priorities of all Czech governments. In 2019, the interior ministry proposed two important new laws strengthening the country’s anticorruption framework: a law regulating lobbying and a law on the protection of whistleblowers, which would also transpose the related directive approved by the EU. Both draft laws were still being considered at year’s end. Meanwhile, the country successfully implemented the Act on Register of Contracts, imposing the obligation that companies with majoritarian state ownership publish their contracts. In addition, after many years of legal proceedings and several appeals, the most important corruption case in the history of the Czech Republic concluded in June when David Rath, former governor of the Central Bohemia region, was convicted for the manipulation of public procurements and sentenced to seven years in prison.
The year 2020 will be impacted most significantly by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is expected that the government’s measures to tackle the crisis will remain strictly provisional and cease to exist once the pandemic is under control. There will be elections in the fall, with one-third of Senate members and regional councilors up for reelection in October. The more important national elections are yet further away, scheduled for fall 2021.
Considers the democratic character of the governmental system; and the independence, effectiveness, and accountability of the legislative and executive branches. | 5.00 / 7.00 |
Examines national executive and legislative elections, the electoral framework, the functioning of multiparty systems, and popular participation in the political process. | 6.75 / 7.00 |
Assesses the organizational capacity and financial sustainability of the civic sector; the legal and political environment in which it operates; the functioning of trade unions; interest group participation in the policy process; and the threat posed by antidemocratic extremist groups. | 6.00 / 7.00 |
Examines the current state of press freedom, including libel laws, harassment of journalists, and editorial independence; the operation of a financially viable and independent private press; and the functioning of the public media. | 5.00 / 7.00 |
Considers the decentralization of power; the responsibilities, election, and capacity of local governmental bodies; and the transparency and accountability of local authorities. | 6.25 / 7.00 |
Assesses constitutional and human rights protections, judicial independence, the status of ethnic minority rights, guarantees of equality before the law, treatment of suspects and prisoners, and compliance with judicial decisions. | 6.00 / 7.00 |
Looks at public perceptions of corruption, the business interests of top policymakers, laws on financial disclosure and conflict of interest, and the efficacy of anticorruption initiatives. | 4.50 / 7.00 |
Author: Vladimír Bartovic is the director of EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy in Prague and Associate Researcher at the European Council on Foreign Relations. He also sits on the Board of DEMAS–Association for Democracy Assistance and Human Rights.
The ratings reflect the consensus of Freedom House, its academic advisers, and the author(s) of this report. The opinions expressed in this report are those of the author(s). The ratings are based on a scale of 1 to 7, with 7 representing the highest level of democratic progress and 1 the lowest. The Democracy Score is an average of ratings for the categories tracked in a given year. The Democracy Percentage, introduced in 2020, is a translation of the Democracy Score to the 0–100 scale, where 0 equals least democratic and 100 equals most democratic.
[The government has resisted a vote of no confidence. It was preceded by more than 17 hours of debate], Czech Radio, 16 November 2019, https://www.irozhlas.cz/zpravy-domov/neduvera-vlada-andrej-babis-online…
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