Independents (political party) explained

Native Name:Nezávislí
Chairman:Patrik Hujdus
Chairperson:Patrik Hujdus
Founded:8 September 1994
Headquarters:Raisova 1066/6,
709 00 Ostrava – Mariánské Hory
Country:Czech Republic

The Independents (Czech: Nezávislí) is a political party in the Czech Republic.

History

The party was established on 8 September 1994 as the Association of Prague Independents, before adopting its current name in 1995. In the 1996 Chamber of Deputies and Senate elections it received 0.5% of the vote and failed to win a seat. Despite increasing its vote share to 0.9% in the Chamber of Deputies elections and 0.8% in the Senate elections of 1998, the party remained seatless. The 2000 Senate elections saw the party finish fifth, although with only 1.5% of the vote and no seats. However, in the 2002 Senate elections the party received 4% of the vote in the first round, and won two seats. They won two seats in the European Parliament in the 2004 elections,[1] and another seat in the Senate elections later the same year.[2]

After receiving just 0.6% of the vote in the 2006 Chamber of Deputies elections, the party's vote share fell to 0.5% in the 2006 Senate elections and it failed to win a seat.[3] The party lost both its Senate seats won in 2002 in the 2008 elections and both its European Parliament seats in the 2009 elections.

The party failed to win a seat in subsequent Senate elections in 2010, 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020. It regained parliamentary representation when it won a seat in the 2022 Senate elections, with elected in Kroměříž.

Notes and References

  1. https://euobserver.com/eu-political/16510 Czech Republic: European Parliament election results 2004
  2. https://www.electionguide.org/elections/id/853/ Czech Republic: Election for Senát (Czech Senate)
  3. http://archive.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/arc/2084_06.htm Elections held in 2006