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Freedom and Direct Democracy

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Not to be confused with Social Democratic Party of Germany , also abbreviated as SPD.
Freedom and Direct Democracy
Svoboda a p?ima demokracie
Abbreviation SPD
Leader Tomio Okamura
Deputy Leaders Radim Fiala
Ivan David
Radek Rozvoral
Radovan Vich
Founded 5 May 2015 ; 9 years ago  ( 2015-05-05 )
Split from Dawn of Direct Democracy
Headquarters Ryti?ska 6, Prague [1]
Newspaper Na vlastni o?i [2]
Youth wing Mladi Espe?aci
Membership (2022) 10,682 [3]
Ideology
Political position Right-wing to far-right
European affiliation Identity and Democracy Party
European Parliament group Identity and Democracy
Colours   Blue
Chamber of Deputies
20 / 200
Senate
0 / 81
European Parliament
1 / 21
Regional councils
35 / 675
Governors of the regions
0 / 13
Local councils
492 / 62,300
Website
http://www.spd.cz/

Freedom and Direct Democracy ( Czech : Svoboda a p?ima demokracie , SPD ) is a political party in the Czech Republic . [10] It is led by Tomio Okamura and it holds 20 seats in the Chamber of Deputies .

It has been described as right-wing [11] [12] or far-right [4] [13] [14] [15] [16] on the political spectrum, [17] [18] [19] and has also been described as a "parliamentary fascist party". [20] [21] The party expresses opposition to immigration [22] [23] and it is staunchly Eurosceptic , [4] [24] while in their political program they state their support for direct democracy . [5]

At the end of 2022 the party had 10,682 members and is the fastest growing party in the country in terms of members. [3]

History [ edit ]

The party was founded in May 2015 by Tomio Okamura and Radim Fiala when eight Members of Parliament split from the Dawn of Direct Democracy parliamentary group. As the party was newly-formed in that parliamentary term, these MPs sat as independents until the 2017 Czech legislative election . Following that election, the party now holds 22 seats in the Czech Chamber of Deputies .

Freedom and Direct Democracy is named after the European Parliament Eurosceptic political group Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy . [25] [26] [27] The party has links with Marine Le Pen 's National Front which is a member of the Europe of Nations and Freedom , a separate Eurosceptic political group in the European Parliament, [28] and Marine Le Pen endorsed SPD before the 2017 Czech legislative election . [29]

In December 2017, SPD hosted a conference of the Movement for a Europe of Nations and Freedom in Prague , with parties such as the French National Front , Dutch Party for Freedom , Freedom Party of Austria and Lega Nord of Italy. [30]

In 2019, following the European Parliament elections , the SPD entered the European Parliament with two MEPs, who sit with the Identity and Democracy group. [31]

In July 2020, SPD MP Tereza Hy?hova defected to become the third MP for the Tricolour Citizens' Movement . [32]

During the 2021 Czech legislative election , the SPD finished fourth with 20 MPs. [33]

On 25 February 2022, [34] the party established its own think tank , the Institute of Freedom and Direct Democracy, [35] focused on the "development of democracy, the rule of law, pluralism of opinions and the protection of fundamental human rights", [36] with Josef Neru?il as its first Chairman. [37]

On 14 September 2022 MEP Hynek Bla?ko left SPD due to disagreement with Okamura's leadership of the party. [38]

Mladi Espe?aci [ edit ]

The party's youth wing, Mladi Espe?aci (English: Young SPD members ; MES) was established in April 2021 via Facebook , [39] [40] with Martin Mala?ek as the first leader. [40] Diana Chod?ajanova, a former contestant in ?esko hleda SuperStar , became one of the faces of MES, appearing in short clips to promote the organisation. [41] In July 2022 the MES page was removed from Facebook. [42]

Cultural impact [ edit ]

A 2017 song by SPD supporters Jan ?i?ka and Olivie ?i?kova called Ja volim SPD ( I'm voting SPD ) went viral in the Czech Republic. [43] [44] This led to ?i?kova being jokingly voted into the top 30 female singers at the 2017 ?esky slavik awards. [45]

Policies and ideology [ edit ]

On its website and policy brief, SPD refers to itself as "a patriotic and democratic movement" with a focus on political reform, law and order, direct democracy, entrepreneurship and national sovereignty. It also claims to seek support from ordinary working citizens, small business owners and middle class professionals. The party also wants to reduce state-surveillance, reform the Czech tax system, support internet freedom and encourage more citizen led participation in national politics. [46] Political commentators have variously described the party as right-wing populist , nationalist and anti-immigration in its platform and rhetoric. [22] [23] The SPD has described itself as a national conservative party. [47] In April 2023, a court ruled that a description of the party as "fascist" by the magazine Respekt was "in accordance with the requirement of proportionality", and the magazine did not thus need to apologise for using this description. [20] [21] Freedom and direct democracy have also been described as neo-fascist by other media and academic articles. [48] [9] [49]

The party is opposed to Czech membership of the European Union and calls for the Czech Republic to leave the bloc. The party also wants to pursue a more restrictive immigration policy, particularly towards immigration from Islamic nations, and rejects multiculturalism . It is strongly opposed to illegal immigration and the EU's policy of migrant quotas. The party itself claims that it does not seek to promote hatred towards any race or culture, but argues for the protection of "Judeo-Christian" values [50] and believes that migrant quotas will lead to the "Islamization" of Europe. [51] [52] [53] [54] The SPD has a pro-Israel stance on the Israel?Hamas war , with Okamura stating that it supports Israel on all major issues. [55] Okamura has called for ending Czech military aid to Ukraine in the Russo-Ukrainian War and advocated peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. [56]

Membership [ edit ]

Tomio Okamura often claims that SPD has a membership of thousands of members. In October 2017 he claimed that SPD has 7,000 members, [57] and in November 2017 12,000 members. [ citation needed ] Doubt has been cast on these figures, with the suggestion that Okamura often conflates numbers of supporters with actual members. It was reported in 2015 that SPD had only 20 members, compared to Okamura's claims of 10,000. [ citation needed ] In February 2018 the party stated that it had 1,200 members. [58] The party had 1,400 members in July 2018. [59]

Election results [ edit ]

Presidential [ edit ]

Election Candidate First round result Second round result
Votes %Votes Result Votes %Votes Result
2018 Supported Milo? Zeman 1,985,547 38.56 First place 2,853,390 51.37 Won
2023 Jaroslav Ba?ta 248,375 4.45 5th place

Chamber of Deputies [ edit ]

Year Vote Vote % Seats ± Place Government
2015
8 / 200
Split from Dawn opposition
2017 538,574 10.64
22 / 200
Increase 14 4th opposition
2021 513,910 9.56
20 / 200
Decrease 2 4th opposition

Senate [ edit ]

Election First round Second round Seats Notes
Votes % Places Votes % Places
2016 5,988 0.68 20th  
0 / 27
2018 759 3.34 7th  
0 / 1
By-election in Trutnov district.
2018 697 4.09 8th  
0 / 1
By-election in Zlin district. Lubomir Ne?as was a SPO candidate supported by SPD.
2018 70,110 6.44 7th  
0 / 27
2020 61,352 6.15 7th  
0 / 27

Local election [ edit ]

Year Vote Vote % Place Seats
2018
155 / 61,892

European Parliament [ edit ]

Election Votes Share of votes in % Seats obtained Place
2019
216,718
9.14%
2 / 21
5th
2024
170,172
5.73%
1 / 21
7th

Regional election [ edit ]

Year Vote Vote % Seats +/- Place Note
2016 153,099 5.7
18 / 675
6th Participated in coalition with Party of Civic Rights
2020 169,978 6.1
35 / 675
Increase 17 5th

Prague municipal elections [ edit ]

Year Leader Vote Vote % Seats +/? Place Position
2018 Hynek Beran 895,859 3.54%
0 / 65
0 6th

References [ edit ]

  1. ^ "Seznam politickych stran a hnuti" (in Czech). Czech Ministry of the Interior .
  2. ^ "Tomio Okamura: Prvni ?islo novych novin SPD - Na vlastni o?i" . spd.cz (in Czech). 11 September 2017 . Retrieved 15 September 2017 .
  3. ^ a b Brodni?kova, Karolina (27 June 2023). "Nejvic p?ibylo ?len? SPD, pada ODS" . Novinky.cz .
  4. ^ a b c "European Election Watch Czech Republic" . Center for Strategic and International Studies . Archived from the original on 4 January 2022 . Retrieved 4 January 2022 .
  5. ^ a b Nordsieck, Wolfram (2017). "Czechia" . Parties and Elections in Europe .
  6. ^ "Volebni zisky evropske krajni pravice jsou zatim vy??i ne? ?eske" . Lidovky.cz (in Czech). 23 December 2016. Archived from the original on 27 May 2019 . Retrieved 16 September 2017 .
  7. ^ "Revoluce v Evrop?? N?co se d?je, podivejte se na ?esko, pi?e se v Britanii" . EuroZpravy.cz (in Czech). Archived from the original on 15 September 2017 . Retrieved 15 September 2017 .
  8. ^ Beran, Vojt?ch (13 November 2016). "42 "vlasteneckych" a nacionalistickych skupin v ?esku" . Echo24.cz (in Czech) . Retrieved 15 September 2017 .
  9. ^ a b Anderson, Rob (15 July 2019). "Summer Strife Puts Czech PM's Populism to the Test" . Balkan Insight . Retrieved 21 May 2024 .
  10. ^ Fernando Casal Bertoa. "The Czech Republic finally has a new government: it has a prosecuted populist Prime Minister and is supported by the Communists" . Who Governs Europe . Retrieved 2021-10-16 .
  11. ^ "Czech President Calls EU 'Cowards' on Yerushalayim" . Hamodia . 10 December 2017.
  12. ^ "New Czech PM Babi? prepares to talk migration, reforms at EU summit" . Euractiv . 7 December 2017.
  13. ^ Muller, Robert; Lopatka, Jan (21 October 2017). "Far-right scores surprise success in Czech election" . Reuters . Retrieved 23 October 2017 .
  14. ^ Day, Matthew (19 October 2017). "Far-Right Czech election 'kingmaker' calls for referendum on EU membership 'just like Britain' " . The Telegraph . Retrieved 23 October 2017 .
  15. ^ Simecka, Michal (20 October 2017). "Babi?' Czech Republic: too thin a gruel?" . openDemocracy . Retrieved 23 October 2017 .
  16. ^ Zachova, Aneta (29 June 2023). "Czech far-right's attempt to block defence agreement with the US failed" . Euractiv . Retrieved 22 May 2024 .
  17. ^ "Czech far right sets 'Czexit' referendum law as price for post-vote talks" . Reuters . 2021-09-22 . Retrieved 2021-10-10 .
  18. ^ "What chance of a referendum on 'Czexit' after this weekend's election?" . euronews.com . 2021-10-08 . Retrieved 2021-10-10 .
  19. ^ Mortkowitz, Siegfried; Bauerova, Ladka (2 May 2019). "Czech Republic at heart of fight for Europe" . Politico.eu . Retrieved 30 November 2023 .
  20. ^ a b "SPD lze ozna?it za ?parlamentni fa?isticke hnuti". Pro? soud smetl ?alobu na Respekt" . Tydenik Respekt .
  21. ^ a b https://romea.cz/en/czech-republic/czech-court-rules-it-is-proportionate-for-tomio-okamuras-freedom-and-direct-democracy-to-be-called-fascist-verdict-has-taken-effect
  22. ^ a b "Okamura registers new anti-immigrant party Freedom and Direct Democracy" . Radio Prague . 16 June 2015 . Retrieved 3 July 2016 .
  23. ^ a b Velinger, Jan (23 October 2017). "Okamura tells daily Freedom and Direct Democracy Party wants to be part of coalition government" . Radio Prague . Retrieved 2021-10-16 .
  24. ^ Brack, Nathalie; Startin, Nicholas (2015). "Introduction: Euroscepticism, from the margins to the mainstream" . International Political Science Review . 36 (3): 244. doi : 10.1177/0192512115577231 . ISSN   0192-5121 . S2CID   145663358 .
  25. ^ Okamura, Tomio. "≫ Rozhovor Tomia Okamury pro EuroZpravy.cz" . Freedom and Direct Democracy . Retrieved 25 May 2016 .
  26. ^ "Okamura a Fiala skon?ili v hnuti Usvit, zakladaji novou stranu" . Czech Radio . 5 May 2015 . Retrieved 25 May 2016 .
  27. ^ "?ekli v Udalostech, komenta?ich ? Udalosti, komenta?e" . Czech Television . Archived from the original on October 9, 2015.
  28. ^ Rychetsky, Jan (12 December 2015). "Tomio Okamura svolal v?echny sve lidi a bylo ru?no: Nep?atel?ti vet?elci! Pokus o vra?du. Delegace od Marine Le Pen i provolani k Zemanovi" . Parlamentni Listy (in Czech) . Retrieved 30 November 2023 .
  29. ^ "Marine Le Pen supports Tomio Okamura, President of the SPD, member of the MENF" . 19 October 2017 – via YouTube.
  30. ^ Willoughby, Ian (15 November 2017). "Le Pen to appear at December event with Okamura in Prague" . Radio Prague . Retrieved 30 November 2023 .
  31. ^ "Czechia sends representatives of populist ANO, neo-fascist SPD and Communists to European Parliament" . intellinews.com . 2019-05-28 . Retrieved 2021-02-02 .
  32. ^ "Hy?hova opou?ti poslanecky klub SPD, bude spolupracovat s Trikolorou" . iDNES.cz (in Czech). 27 July 2020 . Retrieved 27 July 2020 .
  33. ^ "Results" . E15.cz (in Czech) . Retrieved 2021-10-10 .
  34. ^ "Institut svobody a p?ime demokracie, z. u. - I?O 14294982 - Obchodni rejst?ik na Podnikatel.cz" . Podnikatel.cz (in Czech) . Retrieved 22 April 2022 .
  35. ^ "SPD p?ipravuje vlastni politicky institut. Dostane na n?j penize od statu" . Seznam Zpravy (in Czech). January 2022 . Retrieved 21 April 2022 .
  36. ^ "SPD ma vlastni politickou neziskovku. Chce s ni rozvijet demokracii a podporovat "vlastence" " . romea.cz (in Czech). 2 March 2022 . Retrieved 22 April 2022 .
  37. ^ "SPD ma vlastni politickou neziskovku. Chce s ni rozvijet demokracii a podporovat "vlastence" " . HlidaciPes.org (in Czech). 1 March 2022 . Retrieved 22 April 2022 .
  38. ^ Panik, Jan (15 September 2022). "Bla?ko ode?el z SPD. Holedbate se demokracii, ale realita je zcela odli?na, napsal Okamurovi" . forum24.cz (in Czech) . Retrieved 15 September 2022 .
  39. ^ "Sexualni nasili, klimaticke zm?ny, bydleni. Mladi stranici ?ekli, co ?tve vrstevniky" . Aktualn?.cz (in Czech). 22 September 2021 . Retrieved 20 April 2022 .
  40. ^ a b "Okamurovi mlade?nici startuji. Na socialnich sitich rychle rostou" . Studentske listy (in Czech). 22 June 2021 . Retrieved 20 April 2022 .
  41. ^ "Kraska ze SuperStar nata?i klipy pro SPD. Stala se tva?i jejich mlade?nicke organizace" . Insta Zpravy (in Czech). 29 July 2021 . Retrieved 20 April 2022 .
  42. ^ "Vrchni cenzor Tomio Okamura najednou bojuje za svobodu slova" . forum24.cz (in Czech) . Retrieved 20 April 2022 .
  43. ^ "Lezou z popelnic, chodi bosi, zpivaji a nel?ou. Na co politici lovi voli?e?" . iDNES.cz (in Czech). 2018-09-21 . Retrieved 2024-06-11 .
  44. ^ "Xenofobna ?eska speva?ka otrasnou pesni?kou podporuje Okamurovu stranu. Najhor?i je rap jej man?ela" . closer.sme.sk (in Slovak). 2017-06-14 . Retrieved 2024-06-11 .
  45. ^ Ro?anek, Filip (2017-12-04). "?eskeho slavika dob?hly jeho metody" . Hospoda?ske noviny (HN.cz) (in Czech) . Retrieved 2024-06-11 .
  46. ^ "Program" . Freedom and Direct Democracy (in Czech).
  47. ^ "Jak Okamurovo hnuti vnimaji jeho politici? SPD chce byt narodn? konzervativni, pravoleve d?leni ne?e?i" . 30 October 2023.
  48. ^ Noble, Tim (2022-07-29). Liberation against Entitlement: Conflicting Theologies of Grace and Clashing Populisms . Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 48. ISBN   978-1-6667-1306-0 .
  49. ^ "Visegrad: Babis threatens Czech election losers with nightmare scenario" . bne Intellinews . 2017-11-23 . Retrieved 2024-05-25 .
  50. ^ "Program" . Freedom and Direct Democracy (in Czech).
  51. ^ "Czech far-right leader Tomio Okamura urges citizens to walk pigs near mosques to defend country from Islam" . 5 January 2015 . Retrieved 3 July 2016 .
  52. ^ "Far-right leaders gather in Prague ahead of EU vote" . Euractive . 25 April 2019 . Retrieved 8 September 2019 .
  53. ^ "In Prague, Europe's far-right celebrates the Austrian coalition" . Euractive . 17 December 2017 . Retrieved 8 September 2019 .
  54. ^ "Far-right scores surprise success in Czech election" . Reuters . 21 October 2017 . Retrieved 8 September 2019 .
  55. ^ "Jste blazen a odporny ?lov?k, uto?il Okamura na ministryni obrany kv?li Izraeli" . Aktualn?.cz (in Czech). Economia . 3 November 2023.
  56. ^ "Okamura ozna?il Ukrajince za "nacky", valku podle n?j ukon?i Trump" . Novinky.cz (in Czech). Borgis. 8 April 2024.
  57. ^ "Okamura chce s SPD do vlady. Podminkou je pro n?j zakon o referendu" . Euro.cz (in Czech). 6 October 2017 . Retrieved 9 December 2017 .
  58. ^ "Nove straniky tahne do partaji volebni usp?ch i propad" . Novinky.cz (in Czech). 9 February 2018 . Retrieved 9 February 2018 .
  59. ^ "Okamura zitra obhajuje post ?efa SPD" (in Czech) . Retrieved 14 July 2018 – via PressReader.

Further reading [ edit ]

  • Hlou?ek, Vit; Kope?ek, Lubomir; Vodova, Petra (2020). The Rise of Entrepreneurial Parties in European Politics . Springer Nature. ISBN   978-3-030-41916-5 .

External links [ edit ]

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