1.
Bohuslav Sobotka
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Bohuslav Sobotka is the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic and Leader of the Czech Social Democratic Party. He has been the Member of Parliament for South Moravian Region since 1996 and he also served as Finance Minister from 2002 to 2006. Born in Telnice but soon moved with family to Slavkov u Brna and he studied law at the Masaryk University in Brno and earned magister degree in 1995. After the fall of communism he helped rebuild Czech Social Democratic Party, Sobotka also co-founded Young Social Democrats, youth wing of the ČSSD. He was first elected to the Chamber of Deputies in the 1996 legislative election, in 2005, he was appointed as the First Deputy Prime Minister in Paroubeks government. His family moved to Slavkov u Brna in the early 1980s, there he completed Primary School Tyršova. He studied on Gymnasium Bučovice from 1986 to 1990 and he was a student of Masaryk University and gained a Magister degree of Law. Sobotka was first elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1996, from 2002 to 2006, he was Finance Minister of the Czech Republic. Sobotka was also a Deputy Prime Minister from 2003 to 2004, as the minister of finance he formed an advisory body of economists. It later became the National Economic Council of Czech government and his austerity policy included dismissal of employees and restrictions on savings accounts and health benefits, a policy he later criticized. When Jiří Paroubek became the new Prime Minister in 2005, Sobotka reduced his restrictions which led to an increase in the deficit, Sobotka was elected to the Chamber again in 2006 but his party lost the election and went into opposition. Sobotka became a Minister of Finance in a Shadow Cabinet of Social democrats and his party won legislative election in 2010 but failed to form a governing coalition and remained in opposition. Sobotka then served as leader of ČSSD after the resignation of Jiří Paroubek following the election. He also briefly served as chairman in 2006, after the resignation of Stanislav Gross. Sobotka was elected the Chairman of the party on 18 March 2011 when he defeated Michal Hašek who became the First Deputy Chairman, on 18 March 2011, Sobotka was officially elected the party chairman. Sobotka led his party in the elections of 2013. The party won the election, gaining 20. 45% of votes and they called on Sobotka to resign due to the partys poor election result. Hašek and his allies also eliminated Sobotka from the negotiating the next government
2.
Jan Kohout
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Jan Kohout is a Czech diplomat and politician. He was Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic in caretaker governments of Jan Fischer, after the Velvet revolution, he entered the Czechoslovak and later Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He served as Ambassador to the EU in Brussels as well as Deputy Foreign Minister, after Prime Minister Vladimír Špidla resigned in 2004, Kohout was offered the post but refused, Stanislav Gross took over as Premier. Kohout is a graduate of the Faculty of Arts of the Charles University in Prague and he is divorced and has two children
3.
Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic
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The Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic or just Chamber of Deputies, is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of the Czech Republic. The seat of the Chamber of Deputies is Thun Palace in Malá Strana, the members of the 200-seat house serve for four-year terms and are elected using the party-list proportional representation system. Since 2002, there are 14 constituencies matching the Czech regions, the Government is primarily responsible to the Chamber of Deputies and the Prime Minister stays in office only as long as he or she retains the support of a majority of its members. Every citizen of the Czech Republic aged at least 21 who has the right to vote is eligible to be elected, the Deputy may not hold the office of the Senator, the President of the Czech Republic or judge, which also applies to certain positions specified by law. The Parliament of the Czech Republic - the Chamber of Deputies, Prague, Published for the Office of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic by Ivan Král,2009. ISBN 978-80-87324-01-1 List of Speakers of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic Official website Official website
4.
Ostrava
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Ostrava is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic and is the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It is 15 km from the border with Poland, at the point of four rivers. The population was around 300,000 in 2013, Ostrava grew to prominence thanks to its position at the heart of a major coalfield, becoming an important industrial centre. Industries have been restructured, and the last coal was mined in the city in 1994. Lower Vítkovice has applied for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List, since the 1990s Ostrava has been transformed into a modern cultural city, with numerous theatres, galleries and other cultural facilities. It hosts a range of cultural and sporting events throughout the year. Among the best known are the Colours of Ostrava multi-genre music festival, the Janáček May classical music festival, Ostrava is home to two public universities, the VŠB-Technical University and the University of Ostrava. In 2014 Ostrava was a European City of Sport, the city co-hosted the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in 2004 and 2015. The city’s coat of arms features a shield with a rearing silver horse standing on a green lawn. The horse wears a saddle and a red coverlet. At the top right of the shield there is a rose with green leaves. The horse in the coat-of-arms wears no bridle, the oldest known depiction of this coat-of-arms is on a seal dating from 1426, the first coloured version dates from 1728. This explanation is supported by most modern literature, in 2008, Ostrava’s new marketing logo was unveiled. Designed by Studio Najbrt, the logo “OSTRAVA. ” is used in presentations of the city both in the Czech Republic and abroad. The three exclamation marks are meant to symbolise the dynamism, energy and self-confidence of Ostrava and its people, the light blue colour of the city’s name is based on the heraldic tradition, while the exclamation marks are a contrasting darker blue. The logo is intended to be striking, provocative and above all memorable, the first written mention of Silesian Ostrava dates from 1229, when it was described as a settlement. The first mention of Moravian Ostrava describes it as a township, Ostrava grew up on the banks of the Ostrá River, from which it took its name. This river still divides the city into two parts, Moravian Ostrava and Silesian Ostrava
5.
Czechoslovakia
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From 1939 to 1945, following its forced division and partial incorporation into Nazi Germany, the state did not de facto exist but its government-in-exile continued to operate. From 1948 to 1990, Czechoslovakia was part of the Soviet bloc with a command economy and its economic status was formalized in membership of Comecon from 1949, and its defense status in the Warsaw Pact of May 1955. A period of liberalization in 1968, known as the Prague Spring, was forcibly ended when the Soviet Union, assisted by several other Warsaw Pact countries. In 1993, Czechoslovakia split into the two states of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Form of state 1918–1938, A democratic republic, 1938–1939, After annexation of Sudetenland by Nazi Germany in 1938, the region gradually turned into a state with loosened connections among the Czech, Slovak, and Ruthenian parts. A large strip of southern Slovakia and Carpatho-Ukraine was annexed by Hungary, 1939–1945, The region was split into the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and the Slovak Republic. A government-in-exile continued to exist in London, supported by the United Kingdom, United States and its Allies, after the German invasion of Russia, Czechoslovakia adhered to the Declaration by United Nations and was a founding member of the United Nations. 1946–1948, The country was governed by a government with communist ministers, including the prime minister. Carpathian Ruthenia was ceded to the Soviet Union, 1948–1989, The country became a socialist state under Soviet domination with a centrally planned economy. In 1960, the country became a socialist republic, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It was a state of the Soviet Union. 1989–1990, The federal republic consisted of the Czech Socialist Republic, 1990–1992, Following the Velvet Revolution, the state was renamed the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, consisting of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. Neighbours Austria 1918–1938, 1945–1992 Germany Hungary Poland Romania 1918–1938 Soviet Union 1945–1991 Ukraine 1991–1992 Topography The country was of irregular terrain. The western area was part of the north-central European uplands, the eastern region was composed of the northern reaches of the Carpathian Mountains and lands of the Danube River basin. Climate The weather is mild winters and mild summers, influenced by the Atlantic Ocean from the west, Baltic Sea from the north, and Mediterranean Sea from the south. The area was long a part of the Austro Hungarian Empire until the Empire collapsed at the end of World War I, the new state was founded by Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, who served as its first president from 14 November 1918 to 14 December 1935. He was succeeded by his ally, Edvard Beneš. The roots of Czech nationalism go back to the 19th century, nationalism became a mass movement in the last half of the 19th century
6.
Czech Republic
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The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, is a nation state in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west, Austria to the south, Slovakia to the east and Poland to the northeast. The Czech Republic covers an area of 78,866 square kilometres with mostly temperate continental climate and it is a unitary parliamentary republic, has 10.5 million inhabitants and the capital and largest city is Prague, with over 1.2 million residents. The Czech Republic includes the territories of Bohemia, Moravia. The Czech state was formed in the late 9th century as the Duchy of Bohemia under the Great Moravian Empire, after the fall of the Empire in 907, the centre of power transferred from Moravia to Bohemia under the Přemyslid dynasty. In 1002, the duchy was formally recognized as part of the Holy Roman Empire, becoming the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1198 and reaching its greatest territorial extent in the 14th century. Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the whole Crown of Bohemia was gradually integrated into the Habsburg Monarchy alongside the Archduchy of Austria, the Protestant Bohemian Revolt against the Catholic Habsburgs led to the Thirty Years War. After the Battle of the White Mountain, the Habsburgs consolidated their rule, reimposed Roman Catholicism, the Czech part of Czechoslovakia was occupied by Germany in World War II, and was liberated in 1945 by the armies of the Soviet Union and the United States. The Czech country lost the majority of its German-speaking inhabitants after they were expelled following the war, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia won the 1946 elections. Following the 1948 coup détat, Czechoslovakia became a one-party communist state under Soviet influence, in 1968, increasing dissatisfaction with the regime culminated in a reform movement known as the Prague Spring, which ended in a Soviet-led invasion. Czechoslovakia remained occupied until the 1989 Velvet Revolution, when the communist regime collapsed, on 6 March 1990, the Czech Socialistic Republic was renamed to the Czech Republic. On 1 January 1993, Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolved, with its constituent states becoming the independent states of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. The Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004, it is a member of the United Nations, the OECD, the OSCE, and it is a developed country with an advanced, high income economy and high living standards. The UNDP ranks the country 14th in inequality-adjusted human development, the Czech Republic also ranks as the 6th most peaceful country, while achieving strong performance in democratic governance. It has the lowest unemployment rate in the European Union, the traditional English name Bohemia derives from Latin Boiohaemum, which means home of the Boii. The current name comes from the endonym Čech, spelled Cžech until the reform in 1842. The name comes from the Slavic tribe and, according to legend, their leader Čech, the etymology of the word Čech can be traced back to the Proto-Slavic root *čel-, meaning member of the people, kinsman, thus making it cognate to the Czech word člověk. The country has traditionally divided into three lands, namely Bohemia in the west, Moravia in the southeast, and Czech Silesia in the northeast. Following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia at the end of 1992, the Czech part of the former nation found itself without a common single-word geographical name in English, the name Czechia /ˈtʃɛkiə/ was recommended by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs
7.
Czech National Social Party
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It gradually evolved into a social liberal party. Its best-known member was Edvard Beneš, a cofounder of Czechoslovakia, despite the similar name, the ČSNS was not affiliated with the German Nazi Party and was never antisemitic, the Nazis formally suppressed the party. Leadership of the Czech National Social Party was soon assumed by Václav Klofáč, an important role was played by Jiří Stříbrný and Emil Franke as well. Edvard Beneš took actual party leadership, although nominally it was his ally Václav Klofáč, Jiří Stříbrný and his supporters were expelled for disagreement with Václav Klofáč and Edvard Beneš. Later they cooperated with fascist movement and National Democratic Party, from 1921, the party was part of most Czechoslovak government coalitions. Its newspaper was the České slovo, in 1938, a part of the Czech membership entered into the Party of National Unity led by Rudolf Beran, while few of its Slovak members joined the Hlinka Slovak Peoples Party led by Josef Tiso. Under German occupation, the Czechoslovak National Socialist Party functioned in exile, after 1945, the party resurfaced, under the leadership of Petr Zenkl, as one of the parties in the National Front. When Czechoslovakia became a Communist state in 1948, the party was renamed the Czechoslovak Socialist Party. After the return to democracy in 1989, the National Front was abolished, the party renamed itself the Liberal National Social Party, but failed to gather any significant support and was reduced to minor party status. It was shut out of the parliament in both elections held before the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, but did manage to enter the Czech National Council in the 1992 elections. With its support hovering below the five-percent threshold, it merged with the Free Democrats, however, in the 1996 elections, its support tumbled to 2.1 percent and it was shut out of the legislature, never to return. After the 1996 elections, the party split and was renamed again in 1997 to the Czech National Social Party, having fallen well short of returning to parliament and crippled by financial debts, the party has almost disappeared. T. Mills Kelly, Without Remorse, Czech National Socialism in Late-Habsburg Austria, Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, Leftism Revisited, Regnery Gateway, Washington D. C. Malá encyklopédia Slovenska, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava 1987 Timeline of liberal parties in the Czech lands Czech National Socialist Party Czech National Social Party Official website
8.
Civic Forum
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The Civic Forum was a political movement in the Czech part of Czechoslovakia, established during the Velvet Revolution in 1989. The corresponding movement in Slovakia was called Public Against Violence, the Civic Forums purpose was to unify the dissident forces in Czechoslovakia and to overthrow the Communist regime. In this, they succeeded when the Communists gave up power in November 1989 after only 10 days of protests, playwright Václav Havel, its leader and founder, was elected president on December 29,1989. Those elections garnered Civic Forum 36 percent of the vote, the highest that a Czechoslovakian party ever obtained in a free election and this netted it 68 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, combined with Public Against Violences 19 seats, it commanded a strong majority. The Civic Forum had a loose structure, and most of its leaders came from Prague-based members of the Charter 77 dissident movement. In December 1989, Jan Urban became the Forums chairman after Havels election as president, Urban served until June 1990, when he resigned, stating he did not want a rift between the organization and the president. On October 16,1990, Václav Klaus was elected its new chairman, klauss policies were opposed by other leading figures within the Forum and party unity soon vanished. At the Civic Forum congress in January 1991, the movement divided, the more conservative members, led by Klaus, declared that they would form an independent party, the Civic Democratic Party, with a clearer program advocating a free market. The party elected Klaus as its chairman in February 1991, the more liberal members of Civic Forum, led by federal minister of foreign affairs Jiří Dienstbier, formed the Civic Movement. Klaus stated that the two parties would rule as a coalition until the 1992 elections, however, by July 1991 Klaus declared the inter-party cooperation over. The Civic Democratic Party was victorious in the elections of 1992 while the Civic Movement failed to reach the 5% threshold to enter parliament, timothy Garton Ash, We the People, The Revolution of ’89, Witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin and Prague. Bernard Wheaton and Zdeněk Kavan, The Velvet Revolution, Czechoslovakia, paal Sigurd Hilde, Slovak Nationalism and the Break-Up of Czechoslovakia
9.
Czech Social Democratic Party
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The Czech Social Democratic Party is a social-democratic political party in the Czech Republic. It holds 50 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, making it the largest party, ČSSD leads the governing Cabinet of the Czech Republic since 2013. The Social Democratic Czechoslavonic party in Austria was founded on 7 April 1878 in Austria-Hungary representing the Kingdom of Bohemia in the Austrian parliament and its role in the political life of the empire was one of the factors that lead to the creation of independent Czechoslovak Republic. After the collapse of Austria-Hungary, the party one of the leading parties of the first Czechoslovak Republic. After the re-establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic in 1945, the party returned to its pre-existing structure, in 1948, after the Communist Party assumed the parliamentary majority, the Czech Social Democratic Party was incorporated into Communist Party. Under the reformist environment in 1968, there were talks about allowing the recreation of a Social Democratic party and it was only after the Velvet Revolution in 1989, when the party was recreated. After the 1998 parliamentary election, the party won the most seats, as a result, the party formed a minority government under party leader Miloš Zeman. With only 74 seats out of 200, the government had the confidence and supply from the Civic Democratic Party, the party won the elections of 2002 with 70 of 200 representatives in the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic. The chairman of the party in years 2006-2010 was Jiří Paroubek and his predecessor was Stanislav Gross from 26 June 2004 to 26 April 2005. Gross resigned after a scandal which arose due to his inability to explain the source of resources used to pay for his home. Grosss predecessor Vladimír Špidla was forced to resign in 2004 after the ČSSD lost in the 2004 European Parliamentary elections, in the June 2 and 3,2006 elections, the party won 32. 3% of the vote and 74 out of 200 seats. The election at first caused a stalemate since the centre-right parties, hence the ČSSD went into opposition. Following the 2010 legislative elections, the ČSSD gained 22, the Chairman of ČSSD Bohuslav Sobotka has become the new Prime Minister of the Czech Republic. In economic matters, the party platform is typical of Western European social democratic parties. It supports a mixed economy, a welfare state. The party was a member of the Labour and Socialist International between 1923 and 1938, after the splitup of Austria-Hungary, the Czechoslovak Social Democratic Workers Party in the Republic of Austria split from the main party. Official website Party basic data in English
10.
Alma mater
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Alma mater is an allegorical Latin phrase for a university or college. In modern usage, it is a school or university which an individual has attended, the phrase is variously translated as nourishing mother, nursing mother, or fostering mother, suggesting that a school provides intellectual nourishment to its students. Before its modern usage, Alma mater was a title in Latin for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele. The source of its current use is the motto, Alma Mater Studiorum, of the oldest university in continuous operation in the Western world and it is related to the term alumnus, denoting a university graduate, which literally means a nursling or one who is nourished. The phrase can also denote a song or hymn associated with a school, although alma was a common epithet for Ceres, Cybele, Venus, and other mother goddesses, it was not frequently used in conjunction with mater in classical Latin. Alma Redemptoris Mater is a well-known 11th century antiphon devoted to Mary, the earliest documented English use of the term to refer to a university is in 1600, when University of Cambridge printer John Legate began using an emblem for the universitys press. In English etymological reference works, the first university-related usage is often cited in 1710, many historic European universities have adopted Alma Mater as part of the Latin translation of their official name. The University of Bologna Latin name, Alma Mater Studiorum, refers to its status as the oldest continuously operating university in the world. At least one, the Alma Mater Europaea in Salzburg, Austria, the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, has been called the Alma Mater of the Nation because of its ties to the founding of the United States. At Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, the ancient Roman world had many statues of the Alma Mater, some still extant. Modern sculptures are found in prominent locations on several American university campuses, outside the United States, there is an Alma Mater sculpture on the steps of the monumental entrance to the Universidad de La Habana, in Havana, Cuba. Media related to Alma mater at Wikimedia Commons The dictionary definition of alma mater at Wiktionary Alma Mater Europaea website
11.
Masaryk University
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Masaryk University is the second largest university in the Czech Republic, a member of the Compostela Group and the Utrecht Network. Founded in 1919 in Brno as the second Czech university, it now consists of nine faculties and 35,115 students and it is named after Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the first president of an independent Czechoslovakia as well as the leader of the movement for a second Czech university. In 1960 the university was renamed Jan Evangelista Purkyně University after Jan Evangelista Purkyně, in 1990, following the Velvet Revolution it regained its original name. Since 1922, over 171,000 students graduated from the university, Masaryk University was founded on 28 January 1919 with four faculties, Law, Medicine, Science, and Arts. Brno was at time a bilingual city. One notable demonstration in favour of establishing a university in Brno happened in 1905, from the beginning, the university suffered from a lack of money for development. The fragile state of finances in 1923–1925 and 1933–1934 led to proposals of abolishing both the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Science. Both faculties eventually survived until 17 November 1939 when the university was closed following the German occupation of Czechoslovakia. A number of professors of Masaryk University were executed or tortured, for example, many of the executions took place in the Mauthausen concentration camp in 1942. The renewal of university life after the end of World War II was interrupted by the Communist takeover, the percentage of students expelled in various faculties ranged from 5 percent at the Faculty of Education to 46 percent at the Faculty of Law, which was completely closed in 1950. In 1953, the Faculty of Education was separated from the university, in August 1960, a government decree abolished the Pharmaceutical Faculty and the University was renamed Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Brno. Relaxation occurred in 1964 with the reintegration of the Faculty of Education into the university, but conditions changed again rapidly with the Normalization of the 1970s after the 1968 invasion of Warsaw Pact troops into Czechoslovakia. The University was renamed Masaryk University in Brno in 1990, then regaining its name by dropping the in Brno from the title in 2006. A new University campus has been under construction in Brno-Bohunice since 2002, the last stage of development should be completed in 2015. In 2013, university signed a long lease with the city of Brno. The place has various functions, hosting official university ceremonies as well as lectures and conferences. Cinemas programming is managed by Aeropolis, which shares the costs with the university, the Office of International Studies helps facilitate incoming and outgoing student mobility. In the 2012/13 academic year the university hosted over 1,000 international students, students with special needs are assisted by the Teiresiás centre
12.
Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
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The Chairman of the Government of the Czech Republic, normally referred to in English as the Prime Minister, is the head of the Government of the Czech Republic. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies, the current Prime Minister, Bohuslav Sobotka, leader of the Czech Social Democratic Party, was appointed by the President on 17 January 2014, and serves as 11th person in this position. Prime Minister is appointed by the President and its first priority is to create a Government and appoint other Ministers. To the whole government must be given confidence by the Chamber of Deputies, the Constitution of the Czech Republic states that Prime Minister organizes activities of the Government and chairs their meetings. Since the Czech Republic is a republic, the Prime Minister. The Czech constitution provides that upon the accession to the office each Prime Minister must gain, as soon as the Prime Minister loses the confidence he or she is forced to resign and the President is obliged to choose a new Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is the most powerful office in state, since he commands, President appoints the Prime Minister who appoints other Ministers of Cabinet of the Czech Republic. The official residence of the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic is Kramářs Villa, the residence is located at Gogolova 212/1, Hradčany, Czech Republic. The building was built from 1911 to 1914 and it was designed by the Viennese architect Friedrich Ohmann
13.
Czech legislative election, 2017
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The next Czech legislative elections are due to be held on 20 and 21 October 2017. All 200 members of the Chamber of Deputies will be elected, the date of the election was chosen, as required by the Article 63 of the Constitution, by the President. The Constitution states that four years an election to the Chamber of Deputies. The Government is responsible to the Chamber of Deputies and stays in power only if has the confidence of the majority of members of parliament. Article 19 of the Constitution provides that any citizen of the Czech Republic who has right to vote and is twenty-one years old is eligible to serve as an MP. The ČSSD was represented by eight ministers in the Government, with its leader, Bohuslav Sobotka, the smallest party in the coalition, the Christian Democrats, were represented by three ministers, and their leader Pavel Bělobrádek held the position of Deputy Prime Minister. The biggest opposition party in the Chamber of Deputies was the Communist Party, the centre-right opposition to the government was represented by the TOP09 and by the Civic Democratic Party. In 2014, voters elected 27 out of 81 Senators and approximately 62,300 members of local councils, the ČSSD won the Senate election but lost many bigger cities, including the capital Prague to its coalition partner, ANO2011. In October 2016, voters elected 675 members of regional assemblies in 13 regions of the nation which then elected their regional leadership. ANO2011 won the election with 21. 05%, while ČSSD only managed to win two regions — South Bohemia and Vysočina - and 15. 25% nationwide, the Communists suffered the biggest loss, winning 10. 54% and losing 96 seats in the assemblies. The centre-right Civic Democrats won 9. 47% nationwide and 76 seats in regional assemblies, alongside the regional elections, about 2.7 million voters were asked to choose 27 out of 81 senators. The KDU-ČSL won these elections with nine new senators, while both ANO and ČSSD suffered heavy loses, even though ANO had 14 candidates in the second round, only three managed to win election. The Social Democrats lost 10 seats, including that of their Vice President of the Senate Zdeněk Škromach, the centre-right ODS had six candidates in the second round, with four of them being elected. Parties known to be contesting the election include, For the first time in Czech elections, campaign spending is limited. Parties must hand in their lists of candidates by 15 August 2017, the polls are from October 2013 up to the current date with each line and dots corresponding to a political party
14.
Brno
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Brno is the second largest city in the Czech Republic by population and area, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the center of the South Moravian Region in which it forms a separate district. The city is also a significant administrative centre and it is the seat of a number of state authorities, including the Ombudsman, and the Office for the Protection of Competition. Brno is also an important centre of education, with 33 faculties belonging to 13 institutes of higher learning. Brno Exhibition Centre ranks among the largest exhibition centres in Europe, the complex opened in 1928 and established the tradition of large exhibitions and trade fairs held in Brno. Brno hosts motorbike and other races on the Masaryk Circuit, an established in 1930. Another cultural tradition is a fireworks competition, Ignis Brunensis. The other large preserved castle near the city is Veveří Castle by the Brno Dam Lake and this castle is the site of a number of legends, as are many other places in Brno. Another architectural monument of Brno is the functionalist Villa Tugendhat which has been included on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites, one of the natural sights nearby is the Moravian Karst. The etymology of the name Brno is disputed and it perhaps comes from Old Czech brnie muddy, swampy. Alternative derivations are from a Slavic verb brniti or a Celtic language spoken in the area before it was overrun by Germanic peoples, throughout its history, Brnos locals also referred to the town in other languages, including Brünn in German, ברין in Yiddish and Bruna in Latin. The city was referred to as Brunn in English. The Asteroid 2889 Brno was named after the city, as well as the Bren light machine gun, one of the most famous weapons of World War II. In the early 11th century Brno was established as a castle of a prince from the House of Přemyslid. Brno was first mentioned in Cosmas Chronica Boëmorum dated to year 1091, seats of these rulers and thus capitals of these territories were castles and towns of Brno, Olomouc, and Znojmo. In the late 12th century, Moravia began to reunify, forming the Margraviate of Moravia, since then, until the mid of the 17th century, it was not clear which town should be the capital of Moravia. Political power was therefore divided between Brno and Olomouc, but Znojmo also played an important role. The Moravian Diet, the Moravian Land Tables, and the Moravian Land Court were all seated in both cities at once, however, Brno was the official seat of the Moravian Margraves, and later its geographical position closer to Vienna also became important
15.
Czechoslovak Television
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Czechoslovak Television was founded on 1 May 1953 in Czechoslovakia. Like all other media in the Communist Czechoslovakia, the station was subject to heavy censorship, however, as part of the process of social liberation in 1968, for a few days ČST aired broadcasts about the Prague Spring. However, in 1969, it part of the normalisation efforts on the national media. On May 10,1970, Czechoslovak Television began broadcasting a second channel, further technical improvements were made on May 9,1973, when the first regular broadcasts in colour started on TV2, followed two years later by colour transmission on the first channel as well. At the end of the decade, in 1979, a studio based in the Kavci mountains was opened, a third channel for Czech audiences, previously used by Soviet broadcasting was launched on 14 May 1990, called OK3. A similar channel for Slovak audiences called TA3 was created on 6 June 1991, during the Velvet Revolution, ČST staff very quickly joined the side of the protesters and allowed them to spread important messages and broadcasts of the demonstrations. ČST disappeared along with Czechoslovakia on the 31st December 1992 and its successor in the Czech Republic is Czech television, and in Slovakia Slovenská televízia
16.
Velvet Revolution
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The Velvet Revolution or Gentle Revolution was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from November 17 to December 29,1989. Popular demonstrations against the one-party government of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia combined students, the result was the end of 41 years of one-party rule in Czechoslovakia, and the subsequent dismantling of the planned economy and conversion to a parliamentary republic. On November 17,1989, riot police suppressed a student demonstration in Prague and that event sparked a series of demonstrations from November 19 to late December. By November 20, the number of protesters assembled in Prague grew from 200,000 the previous day to an estimated 500,000, a two-hour general strike involving all citizens of Czechoslovakia was held on November 27. On November 24, the top leadership of the Communist Party, including General Secretary Miloš Jakeš. Two days later, the legislature deleted the sections of the Constitution giving the Communists a monopoly of power. Barbed wire and other obstructions were removed from the border with West Germany, on December 10, President Gustáv Husák appointed the first largely non-communist government in Czechoslovakia since 1948, and resigned. Alexander Dubček was elected speaker of the parliament on December 28. In June 1990, Czechoslovakia held its first democratic elections since 1946, the term Velvet Revolution was coined by Rita Klímová, the dissidents English translator who later became the ambassador to the United States. The term was used internationally to describe the revolution, although the Czechs also used the term internally, after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993, Slovakia used the term Gentle Revolution, the term that Slovaks used for the revolution from the beginning. The Czech Republic continues to refer to the event as the Velvet Revolution, the Communist Party seized power on February 25,1948. No official opposition parties operated thereafter, dissidents published home-made periodicals, but they faced persecution by the secret police. Thus, the public did not openly support the dissidents for fear of dismissal from work or school. A writer or filmmaker could have his/her books or films banned for an attitude towards the socialist regime. These rules were easy to enforce, as all schools, media and they were under direct supervision and often were used as accusatory weapons against rivals. The nature of blacklisting changed gradually after the introduction of Mikhail Gorbachevs policies of Glasnost, the Czechoslovak Communist leadership verbally supported Perestroika, but made few changes. Speaking about the Prague Spring of 1968 was taboo, the first anti-government demonstrations occurred in 1988 and 1989, but these were dispersed and participants were repressed by the police. By the late 1980s, discontent with living standards and economic inadequacy gave way to support for economic reform
17.
Government of the Czech Republic
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The Government of the Czech Republic exercises executive power in the Czech Republic. The members of the government are the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic and it has its legal basis in the Constitution of the Czech Republic. The government is led by the Prime Minister, who all the remaining ministers. Government of the Czech Republic is responsible to the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic, the Prime Minister is appointed by the President of the Czech Republic. He or she succeeds to the if the current president dies, is incapacitated. The current Prime Minister is Bohuslav Sobotka, current government is 13th from year 1993 and dissolution of Czechoslovakia and it has 17 members and a prime minister
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Daniel Herman
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Daniel Herman is a Czech politician. On 29 January 2014 he has appointed as 14th Minister of Culture of the Czech Republic in Bohuslav Sobotkas Cabinet. He was born in České Budějovice and his mother was a cousin of Hana Brady. He began studying theology in Litoměřice in 1984, in 1989, he was ordained as a priest. He then became secretary to Miloslav Vlk and he was spokesman of the Czech Bishops Conference 1996–2005. In 2007, he applied for laicization and he has since worked as a civil servant for the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Culture. From 12 August 2010 to 10 April 2013, he was the Director of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, since January,2014, he is Czech Minister of Culture in Bohuslav Sobotkas Cabinet. In May 2016 he caused due to his visit of congress of the Sudetendeutsche Landsmannschaft as first minister in history of the Government of the Czech Republic. In October 2016, he caused international incident by officially accepting 14th Dalai Lama after signation of Czech-Chinese business contracts which does not allow that, the Official Website of Daniel Herman
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