Marian Jurečka
Who was the chair of KDU-ČSL from 2020 to 2021?
KDU-ČSL KDU-ČSL ( In Czech , the initials of the Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak Peoples Party ; ) , often shortened to ( the populars ) is a Christian-democratic political party in the Czech Republic . The party has taken part in almost every Czech Government since 1990 and have participated in both left-wing and right-wing coalition governments . In the June 2006 election , the party won 7.2% of the vote and 13 out of 200 seats ; but in the 2010 election , this dropped to 4.4% and they lost all their seats . The party regained its parliamentary standing in the 2013 legislative election , winning 14 seats in the new parliament , thereby becoming the first party ever to return to the Chamber of Deputies after dropping out . History . Towards the end of the 19th century Roman Catholics in Bohemia and Moravia joined political movements inside Cisleithanian Austria-Hungary . The Christian-Social Party was set up in September 1894 in Litomyšl , and the Catholic National Party in Moravia was set up in September 1896 in Přerov . Československá strana lidová ( ČSL ) was created in January 1919 in Prague , reuniting other Catholic parties , and Jan Šrámek was selected as its chairman . In 1921 , ČSL entered the government of Czechoslovakia , and was subsequently part of governing coalitions regardless of political changes . After the German occupation of Czechoslovakia , Šrámek served as head of Czechoslovak government in exile ( in the United Kingdom ) . After 1945 , ČSL was part of the national unity government , forming its most right-wing section . When the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia took over all power in February 1948 , many ČSL officials were imprisoned . The party lost any real influence and was kept as a de facto puppet of Moscow-aligned communists ( see National Front ) . In turn , it was allowed to keep a token presence of ČSL in government until 1989 . After the Velvet Revolution in 1989 ČSL attempted to shed its compromised figures and policies of the past : this included a change of name in 1992 after the merger with the Christian and Democratic Union ( which was a post-revolution attempt at more modern political Catholicism trying to emulate the German CDU , but lacking the strength of its traditional counterpart ) . KDU-ČSL was part of the governments of Václav Klauss Civic Democratic Party ( ODS ) until its ministers left in autumn 1997 which triggered the governments fall ; KDU-ČSL was also represented in the caretaker government of Josef Tošovský before the premature elections in 1998 . In June 2002 KDU–ČSL went into the elections on a joint ballot with the Freedom Union–Democratic Union ( US–DEU ) as the Two-Coalition , which was the last remnant of an unsuccessful attempt to unite them with three smaller parties into the Four-Coalition which would provide an alternative to the practices of the opposition agreement of ODS and Czech Social Democratic Party ( ČSSD ) . However it turned out that the KDU–ČSLs traditional voters identified much more strongly with their original party than the whole , unlike US–DEUs liberal city ones , and using preferential votes on evenly split ballots caused that KDU–ČSL gained 22 MPs to US–DEUs 9 even though both parties were of roughly equal strength . They entered the government again by forming a coalition with the winning Czech Social Democratic Party . In 2003 Miroslav Kalousek was elected chairman ; unlike his predecessor Cyril Svoboda he represents the right wing of KDU–ČSL favouring cooperation with ODS , which was a source of tension within the coalition . He refused to enter the government both after his election and the governments reconstruction after PM Vladimír Špidlas resignation , and finally on 19 February 2005 asked for the resignation of PM Stanislav Gross after his finance scandal broke out . Gross retaliated by threatening to remove KDU–ČSL from his cabinet ; a government crisis ensued . After the 2006 legislative elections and lengthy negotiations caused by stalemated result , the KDU–ČSL formed a government together with the ODS and the Green Party ( SZ ) . Cyril Svoboda became the party chairman on 30 May 2009 . In reaction to his election , his predecessor Miroslav Kalousek led a split from the party to form TOP 09 , as he considered Svoboda to be too far on the left wing of the party . In the 2010 Chamber of Deputies election , the partys vote dropped to 4.39% , and they lost every one of their seats to other parties . Svoboda resigned as a consequence of the results . In November Pavel Bělobrádek was elected on his stead . The Party returned to the Parliament after 2013 election , becoming the so far only party in the history of Czech republic to achieve a return after defeat in elections . On 12 April 2017 , KDU-ČSL signed an agreement with STAN to participate in 2017 legislative election as a coalition . Coalition needed to get more 10% of votes get over threshold . The coalition disintegrated before the election , thus the party went into the elections standalone , receiving 5.8% of votes . In March 2019 the party was officially renamed to KDU-ČSL , its common abbreviation and Marek Výborný became a new party leader . After the death of his wife announced Marek Výborný in November 2019 his resignation for personal reasons . Tomáš Zdechovský , Jan Bartošek and Marian Jurečka decided then to run for party leader . Current situation . KDU–ČSL has relatively low but stable support of voters ( 6–10% ) ; it is strongest in the traditionally Catholic rural areas in Moravia . Historically , it is a mass party with about 50,000 members ( second after the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia ) ; most of them are of old age , however , and recruitment of new members cant keep the membership numbers from declining . The influence of the party is rather bigger than that , as it tries – so far rather successfully – to take advantage of the fragmented Czech political situation and make itself a necessary part of any coalition , whether the winning big party be left- or right-wing . KDU–ČSL is a member of the European Peoples Party ( EPP ) . Internal Structure . Membership . KDU-ČSL had 27,662 Members in 2015 which is the second largest member base of any party in the Czech Republic . The number is decreasing 1990s when the party had 100,000 Members , It is caused by high average age of members . Party Strongholds . KDU-ČSL is known to have very strong electoral core which is concentrated primarily in South Moravia . The party has very stable electoral support thanks to it and managed to gain seats in Chamber of Deputies everytime since 1990 with exception of 2010 Partners . Notable partners and suborganisations of the KDU-ČSL are : - Young Populars - youth organisation - Young Christian Democrats - youth organisation - KDU-ČSL Women Association - womens wing - Institute for Christian Democratic Politics - think-tank - Economic and entrepreneurial union of KDU-ČSL - entrepreneurs wing - European Academy for Democracy - think-tank . - Institute of Political and Economical Studies - think-tank - European Peoples Party - European party - Centrist Democrat International - political international Leaders . - Jan Šrámek ( 1922-1938 ) - Alois Petr ( 1938–1951 ) - Josef Plojhar ( 1951–1968 ) - Antonín Pospíšil ( 1968–1973 ) - Rostislav Petera ( 1973–1980 ) - František Toman ( 1980–1981 ) - Zbyněk Žalman ( 1981–1989 ) - Josef Bartončík ( 1989–1990 ) - Josef Lux ( 1990–1998 ) - Jan Kasal ( 1999–2001 ) - Cyril Svoboda ( 2001–2003 ) - Miroslav Kalousek ( 2003–2006 ) - Jan Kasal ( 2006 ) - Jiří Čunek ( 2006–2009 ) - Cyril Svoboda ( 2009–2010 ) - Michaela Šojdrová ( 2010 ) - Pavel Bělobrádek ( 2010–2019 ) - Marek Výborný ( 2019–2020 ) - Marian Jurečka ( Since 2020 ) Symbols . Party patron is Saint Wenceslaus , on every congress is played Saint Wenceslas Chorale . Members addressing themselves as brothers and sisters . Party had many symbols through history , current logo depicts symbol of Christian cross on linden leaf . Name of the party over time . - 1919–1992 The Czechoslovak Peoples Party ( Československá strana lidová ) – merger of Moravian-Silesian Christian Social Party in Moravia , Catholic-National Conservative Party in Moravia , Czech Christian Social Party in the Kingdom of Bohemia and Catholic-National Conservative Party in Bohemia , Conservative Peoples Party . - 1992–2019 The Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak Peoples Party ( Křesťanská a demokratická unie – Československá strana lidová ) - Since 2019 KDU-ČSL - after renaming to party abbreviation . Election results . Czech Republic wide elections . Senate . Places are by number of votes gained . Participated as Part of Four-Coalition External links . Czech . - Official website English . - English version of the homepage