Government of the CR

The Czech Republic is a democratic state. System of government is based on the constitution.

Its government is divided into three branches – the legislative, represented by the Parliament, the executive, represented by president and the government, and the judicial, represented by courts.

The Parliament consists of two chambers-the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. It seats in the former noblemen’s palaces at the Lesser Quarter in Sněmovní Street (the Chamber of Deputies) and in the Wallenstein Palace (the Senate).

The Senate has 81 members. Every two years is renewed one third of the Senators. Senator have to be at least 40 years old.

The Chambers of Deputies has 200 deputies, served four four years.Elections are public, secret, democratic, equal, direct and universal. Every body, who is above 18 and who is Czech nationality can take part in them. A candidate has to be at least 21 years old. Its according to proportional representation of parties. In elections the citizens can choose from a variety of political parties from three main groups – the left wing, moderate and right wing. Our contemporary parties are: Socialist-Democratic Party (ČSSD), Civic Democratic Party (ODS), Union of Liberty (US) and Christian Party (KDU-ČSL), the Civic Democratic Union (ODA), Czech-Moravian Communist Party.

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

The parliament is a law – making body. 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 anew. A law must be signed by the head of the Chamber of Deputies, the prime minister, and the president.

The President is the head of state, his official residence is the Prague Castle. He is elected every five years by Parliament and he cannot be elected more than two terms in office in a row.

He represents the country abroad, he is the commander-in-chief of the army, has right to veto or refuse a bill, can declare amnesty, call general election and makes appointments of all the members of the government, judges, generals of the army, ambassadors.

The leader of the winning party became the Prime Minister. The government is composed of the premier, the vice-premier and the ministers. There are many ministries, headed by ministers, eg. Interior, Foreign Affairs, Defence, Justice, Industry, Commerce, Agriculture, Finance, Transport, Labour and Social Affairs, Education, Culture and Health.

The judicial power is divided into a system of courts. There is Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court, which are at the highest level and they go down to region and district courts. Judges serve for an unlimited period of time, must have a good reputation, and must be professional lawyers.

The state flag consists of three colours, red, blue and white. The red and the white make horizontal stripes. The red is at the bottom, the white is at the top and the blue makes a triangle at the left side.

The Czech national anthem is called Kde domov můj? (Where is my home?).