elections: president elected by Parliament for a five-year term; election last held 20 January 1998 (next to be held NA January 2003); prime minister appointed by the president
election results: Vaclav HAVEL reelected president; Vaclav HAVEL received 47 of 81 votes in the Senate and 99 out of 200 votes in the Chamber of Deputies (second round of voting)
Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament or Parlament consists of the Senate or Senat (81 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve six-year terms; one-third elected every two years) and the Chamber of Deputies or Poslanecka snemovna (200 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: Senate - last held 12 and 19 November 2000 (next to be held NA November 2002); Chamber of Deputies - last held 19-20 June 1998 (next to be held by NA June 2002)
election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - KDU-CSL 28, ODS 22, CSSD 15, ODA 7, US 4, KSCM 3, independents 2; Chamber of Deputies - percent of vote by party - CSSD 32.3%, ODS 27.7%, KSCM 11%, KDU-CSL 9.0%, US 8.6%; seats by party - CSSD 74, ODS 63, KSCM 24, KDU-CSL 20, US 18, CSNS 1
Judicial branch: Supreme Court; Constitutional Court; chairman and deputy chairmen are appointed by the president for a 10-year term
Political parties and leaders: Christian and Democratic
Union-Czechoslovak People's Party or KDU-CSL [Jan KASAL, chairman];
Civic Democratic Alliance or ODA [Daniel KROUPA, chairman]; Civic
Democratic Party or ODS [Vaclav KLAUS, chairman]; Communist Party of
Bohemia and Moravia or KSCM [Miroslav GREBENICEK, chairman];
Communist Party of Czechoslovakia or KSC [Miroslav STEPAN,
chairman]; Czech National Social Party of CSNS [Jan SULA, chairman];
Czech Social Democratic Party or CSSD [Milos ZEMAN, chairman];
Democratic Union or DEU [Ratibor MAJZLIK, chairman]; Freedom Union
or US [Karel KUEHNL, chairman]; Quad Coalition [Cyril SVOBODA,
chairman] (includes KDU-CSL, US, ODA, DEU); Republicans of Miroslav
SLADEK or RMS [Miroslav SLADEK, chairman]
Political pressure groups and leaders: Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions [Richard FALBR]
International organization participation: ACCT (observer), Australia
Group, BIS, CCC, CE, CEI, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, EU (applicant),
FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFC, IFRCS, ILO,
IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, MONUC,
NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN,
UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMEE, UNMIBH, UNMIK, UNMOP, UNMOT, UNOMIG,
UPU, WCL, WEU (associate), WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, ZC
Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador
Alexsandr VONDRA