# 2018 Czech Senate election

Senate elections were held in the Czech Republic on 5 and 6 October 2018 alongside municipal elections, with a second round held on 12 and 13 October 2018. The Conservative Civic Democratic Party (ODS) won the election with 10 seats. Governing parties ANO 2011 and the Czech Social Democratic Party were heavily defeated, winning only 1 seat each. The Communist Party lost its last seat in the Senate when Václav Homolka failed to be re-elected, meaning the party would be without representation in the Senate for the first time in the history of Czech Republic. The election was considered the first major win for the opposition to Andrej Babiš' Cabinet. Commentators including Josef Kopecký also noted ODS confirmed their position as the main opposition party, ahead of the Czech Pirate Party.

## Electoral system

One-third of the 81-member Senate is elected every two years, giving Senators six year terms. Members of the Senate are elected in single-member constituencies using the two-round system.

### Composition of contested seats prior to the elections

| Name | Ideology | Leader | Seats |
| Czech Social Democratic Party | Social democracy | Jan Hamáček | 13 / 27 |
| Civic Democratic Party | Conservatism | Petr Fiala | 4 / 27 |
| KDU-ČSL | Christian democracy | Pavel Bělobrádek | 2 / 27 |
| Mayors and Independents | Localism | Petr Gazdík | 2 / 27 |
| Independents | | | 2 / 27 |
| Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia | Communism | Vojtěch Filip | 1 / 27 |
| Pirates | Pirate politics | Ivan Bartoš | 1 / 27 |
| Green Party | Green politics | Petr Štěpánek | 1 / 27 |

### List of contested districts

| District | Incumbent | Standing for reelection |
| 2 - Sokolov | Zdeněk Berka (ČSSD) | No |
| 5- Chomutov | Václav Homolka (KSČM) | Yes |
| 8 - Rokycany | Milada Emmerová (ČSSD) | Yes |
| 11 - Domažlice | Jan Látka (ČSSD) | Yes |
| 14 - České Budějovice | Jiří Šesták (STAN) | Yes |
| 17 - Prague 12 | Tomáš Grulich (ODS) | No |
| 20 - Prague 4 | Eva Syková (ČSSD) | Yes |
| 23 - Prague 8 | Daniela Filipiová (ODS) | No |
| 26 - Prague 2 | Libor Michálek (Piráti) | Yes |
| 29 - Litoměřice | Hassan Mezian (ČSSD) | No |
| 32 - Teplice | Jaroslav Kubera (ODS) | Yes |
| 35 - Jablonec nad Nisou | Jaroslav Zeman (ODS) | Yes |
| 38 - Mladá Boleslav | Jaromír Jermář (ČSSD) | No |
| 41 - Benešov | Luděk Jeništa (TOP 09) | No |
| 44 - Chrudim | Jan Veleba (SPOZ) | No |
| 47 - Mladá Boleslav | Lubomír Franc (ČSSD) | No |
| 50 - Svitavy | Radko Martínek (ČSSD) | No |
| 53 - Třebíč | František Bublan (ČSSD) | No |
| 56 - Břeclav | Jan Hajda (ČSSD) | Deceased prior to election |
| 59 - Brno-City | Eliška Wagnerová (Zelení) | No |
| 62 - Prostějov | Božena Sekaninová (ČSSD) | Yes |
| 65 - Šumperk | Zdeněk Brož (KDU–ČSL) | Yes |
| 68 - Opava | Vladimír Plaček (ČSSD) | Deceased prior to election |
| 71 - Ostrava-City | Leopold Sulovský (Ostravak) | Yes |
| 74 - Karviná | Petr Vícha (ČSSD) | Yes |

## Campaign

The Senate election campaign ran parallel to the campaign for the municipal elections.
ANO 2011 launched their campaign on 3 September 2018. Babiš said that ANO was offering many highly qualified candidates, including Ivan Pilný and Eva Syková.
The Czech Social Democratic Party launched their campaign on 5 September 2018, focused on social issues.
The Civic Democratic Party (ODS) launched their campaign on 7 September 2018. Petr Fiala stated that the election would be a conflict of two worlds, with ODS representing the world of experienced candidates and ANO 2011 representing the world of repeated restarts.

## Election forecast

| Media | Date | ANO | ODS | Piráti | SPD | KSČM | ČSSD | KDU–ČSL | TOP 09 | STAN | Others | Notes |
| Election | 12–13 Oct 2018 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | |
| Reflex | 10 Oct 2018 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | |
| Aktuálně.cz | 10 Oct 2018 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 6 | |
| Eurozprávy.cz | 7 Oct 2018 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1st round |||||||||||||
| Referendum | 2 Oct 2018 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 4 | |
| Hospodářské noviny | 30 Sep 2018 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 5 | based on betting odds |
| Novinky.cz | 11 Sep 2018 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 5 | based on betting odds |

### Campaign finances

| Party | Money Spent |
| ANO 2011 | 18,700,000 CZK |
| Civic Democratic Party | 15,600,000 CZK |
| Freedom and Direct Democracy | 12,700,000 CZK |
| Czech Social Democratic Party | 12,300,000 CZK |
| Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party | 10,200,000 CZK |
| Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia | 7,000,000 CZK |
| Mayors and Independents | 6,900,000 CZK |
| TOP 09 | 6,300,000 CZK |
| Czech Pirate Party | 5,600,000 CZK |

## Results

The Civic Democratic Party (ODS) was the most successful party in the first round, with 11 candidates proceeding to the second round. ANO 2011 had 10 candidates proceeding.
Seats :
| Nominating party | Nominating party | Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Seats | Won | Not up | Total | +/– |
| | Civic Democratic Party | 163,630 | 15.02 | 0 | 116,376 | 27.86 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 16 | +7 |
| | ANO 2011 | 147,477 | 13.53 | 0 | 57,500 | 13.76 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 0 |
| | Czech Social Democratic Party | 100,478 | 9.22 | 0 | 33,887 | 8.11 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 13 | –12 |
| | KDU-ČSL | 99,383 | 9.12 | 1 | 34,833 | 8.34 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 16 | +2 |
| | Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia | 80,371 | 7.38 | 0 | 3,578 | 0.86 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | –1 |
| | Mayors and Independents | 79,025 | 7.25 | 1 | 47,317 | 11.33 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 10 | +5 |
| | Freedom and Direct Democracy | 70,110 | 6.43 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | Czech Pirate Party | 66,281 | 6.08 | 0 | 17,528 | 4.20 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | TOP 09 | 41,980 | 3.85 | 0 | 22,580 | 5.40 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | +1 |
| | Senator 21 | 33,860 | 3.11 | 0 | 24,250 | 5.80 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 6 | New |
| | Marek Hilšer for Senate | 15,045 | 1.38 | 0 | 11,903 | 2.85 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | New |
| | Freeholder Party of the Czech Republic | 12,265 | 1.13 | 0 | 7,176 | 1.72 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| | For Health | 11,180 | 1.03 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Realists | 8,407 | 0.77 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Party of Common Sense | 7,186 | 0.66 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | Ostravak | 6,178 | 0.57 | 0 | 4,906 | 1.17 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | Movement for Prague 11 | 4,980 | 0.46 | 0 | | | | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| | New Future for Liberec Region | 4,744 | 0.44 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | SNK European Democrats | 4,446 | 0.41 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | Czech National Social Party | 4,438 | 0.41 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Pévéčko | 3,425 | 0.31 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Czech Sovereignty | 3,300 | 0.30 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Party of Civic Rights | 3,286 | 0.30 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | –1 |
| | Party of Free Citizens | 2,884 | 0.26 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | Moravian Land Movement | 2,641 | 0.24 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Ordinary Citizens | 2,010 | 0.18 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Green Party | 1,818 | 0.17 | 0 | | | | 0 | 1 | 1 | –1 |
| | Moravian and Silesian Pirate Party | 1,789 | 0.16 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Moravané | 1,484 | 0.14 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | Koruna Česká | 1,443 | 0.13 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | Patriots of the Czech Republic | 1,369 | 0.13 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | NE-VOLIM | 1,346 | 0.12 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Order of the Nation | 1,172 | 0.11 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | Independents | 1,061 | 0.10 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | Club of Committed Non-Party Members | 1,001 | 0.09 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Alternative for Czechia 2017 | 794 | 0.07 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Party of State of Direct Democracy | 499 | 0.05 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Citizens of the Czech Republic | 491 | 0.05 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Alliance of National Forces | 390 | 0.04 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Enough is Enough | 258 | 0.02 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Roma Democratic Party | 216 | 0.02 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Nation Together | 41 | 0.00 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Independents | 95,507 | 8.76 | 0 | 35,938 | 8.60 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | +2 |
| Total | Total | 1,089,689 | 100.00 | 2 | 417,772 | 100.00 | 25 | 27 | 54 | 81 | 0 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 1,089,689 | 95.90 | | 417,772 | 99.49 | | | | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 46,573 | 4.10 | | 2,151 | 0.51 | | | | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 1,136,262 | 100.00 | | 419,923 | 100.00 | | | | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 2,743,745 | 41.41 | | 2,547,488 | 16.48 | | | | | |
| Source: Volby ||||||||||||