TOP_09

TOP 09

TOP 09

Czech political party

TOP 09 (Czech: Tradice Odpovědnost Prosperita, lit. 'Tradition Responsibility Prosperity')[12] is a liberal-conservative[3][4][5][6] political party in the Czech Republic, led by Markéta Pekarová Adamová. 14 of its members sit in the Chamber of Deputies, and three of them are MEPs.

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History

Foundation and participation in government

The party was founded on 11 June 2009 by Miroslav Kalousek who left the Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party.[13] Its first leader was Karel Schwarzenberg, who had previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the second Topolánek cabinet from January 2007 to March 2009, having been nominated by the Green Party for the post, and who had been elected to the Senate in 2004 as nominee of the Freedom Union – Democratic Union (US-DEU) and Civic Democratic Alliance (ODA) parties.[14][15]

Karel Schwarzenberg, Honorary chairman and former leader of TOP 09

In the 2010 parliament elections on 28–29 May 2010, TOP 09 received 16.7% of the vote and 41 seats, becoming the third largest party.[16] The party joined the Nečas cabinet, forming a coalition with the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) and Public Affairs (VV).[17]

In September 2010 TOP 09 applied to join the European People's Party. Karel Schwarzenberg had already officially participated in two EPP summits (15 September[18] and 16 December 2010[19]). On 10 February 2011 TOP 09 was granted permission to join the EPP.[20]

In the 2013 legislative election on 25–26 October 2013, TOP 09 won 12% of the vote and 26 seats. The party became part of the parliamentary opposition to the Sobotka cabinet.

Opposition and cooperation with STAN and ODS

In the 2014 European elections on 24 and 25 May 2014, TOP 09 reached second place nationally with 15.95% of the vote, electing 4 MEPs.

Karel Schwarzenberg left the position of leader in 2015. He was replaced by Miroslav Kalousek afterwards.

In March 2016, Karel Tureček left the party and joined ANO 2011, which left TOP 09 with 25 MPs.[21] In May 2016, Pavol Lukša, one of founders of TOP 09, left the party and established a new party, Good Choice.[22]

The 2016 Czech regional elections were a major loss for TOP 09. The party gained only 19 seats and 3.4% of the vote. Miroslav Kalousek then considered resigning, but decided to remain the party’s leader.[23]

In January 2017, TOP 09 introduced a new program called Vision 2030, in which it declared intentions to adopt the Euro, implement electronical voting, and increase health standards in Czechia to Germany's level. TOP 09 also wanted to shorten the working week to 4 days. Miroslav Kalousek said he believed that TOP 09 would get over 10% in the upcoming legislative election even though recent opinion polls indicated that TOP 09 might not reach the 5% threshold.[24][25]

Ahead of the 2017 parliamentary elections, TOP 09 was endorsed by The Czech Crown, Conservative Party, Club of Committed Non-Party Members and Liberal-Environmental Party.[26][27] The party eventually received 5.3% of the vote, gaining 7 seats. Jiří Pospíšil became the new leader after the election.[28]

In the next year municipal elections TOP 09 got only 1.1 per cent of the vote nationally. The best performance for the party was in the Prague City council elections, following which it joined a coalition with the Czech Pirate Party and Prague Together.

In November, 2019, Markéta Pekarová Adamová was elected party’s leader.[29] In late 2020, TOP 09 formed an electoral alliance with KDU-ČSL and ODS called SPOLU, to run in the 2021 elections.[30] The alliance won the popular vote and formed a coalition with the Pirates and Mayors alliance. As a result of agreements made to form these alliances, TOP 09 leader Markéta Pekarová Adamová became President of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic.

On 20 November 2021 Pekarová Adamová was reelected in a TOP 09 leadership election, with 163 out of 176 votes, being the only candidate.[31]

On 11 November 2023 Pekarová Adamová was reelected in a TOP 09 leadership election, with 142 out of 177 votes, being the only candidate.[32]

Ideology

TOP 09 is characterised most prominently by its fiscal conservatism and its pro-Europeanism,[33] being firmly in favour of European integration.[34] Generally, the party is considered to lean towards both liberal and conservative strains of right-of-centre thought, gradually becoming increasingly liberal compared to its official stance of conservatism.[35]

Election results

Below are charts of the results that the TOP09 has secured in the Chamber of Deputies, Senate, European Parliament, and regional assemblies at each election.

Party leader Markéta Pekarová Adamová

Chamber of Deputies

Year Leader Vote Vote % Seats +/− Place Position
2010 Karel Schwarzenberg 873,833 16.7
41 / 200
 3rd Coalition
2013 Karel Schwarzenberg 596,357 12.0
26 / 200
 Decrease15 4th Decrease Opposition
2017 Miroslav Kalousek 268,811 5.3
7 / 200
 Decrease19 8th Decrease Opposition
2021 Markéta Pekarová Adamová 1,493,701 27.79
14 / 200
 Increase7 1st Increase Coalition
Part of SPOLU coalition, which won 71 seats in total
Ex leader of TOP 09 MEP Jiří Pospíšil

Senate

Election First round Second round Seats Total seats +/-
Votes % Places Votes % Places
2010165,27714.403rd51,3107.543rd
2 / 27
2 / 81
Increase 2
201112,0537.514th 
0 / 1
2 / 81
Steady
201257,9076.595th9,9181.935th
2 / 27
4 / 81
Increase 2
201492,1378.985th30,4766.436th
0 / 27
4 / 81
Steady
201422,05515.553rd 
0 / 1
4 / 81
Steady
201670,6538.026th30,8207.275th
2 / 27
4 / 81
Steady
201837,615 33.511st30,33167.111st
1 / 1
4 / 81
Steady
201841,9803.857th22,5805.408th
1 / 27
3 / 81
Decrease 1
202046,5754.677th33,9387.514th
2 / 27
5 / 81
Increase 2

Notes:
1 By-election in Kladno district.
2 By-election in Prague 10 district
3 By-election in Trutnov district. TOP 09 supported a STAN candidate Jan Sobotka.

Presidential

Election Candidate First round result Second round result
Votes %Votes Result Votes %Votes Result
2013 Karel Schwarzenberg 1,204,195 23.40 Runner-up 2,241,171 45.20 Lost
2018 Jiří Drahoš 1,369,601 26.60 Runner-up 2,701,206 48.63 Lost
2023[lower-alpha 1] Petr Pavel 1,975,056 35.40 Winner 3,358,926 58.33 Won
Danuše Nerudová 777,080 13.93 3rd place supported Petr Pavel
Pavel Fischer 376,705 6.75 4th place supported Petr Pavel
  1. The SPOLU coalition supported 3 independent candidates for this election.

European Parliament

Year Vote Vote % Seats Place
2014 241,747 16.0
4 / 21
 2nd Increase
2019 276,220 11.7
3 / 21
 4th Decrease

Local election

Year Vote Vote % Seats
2010 8,537,461 9.5
1,509 / 62,178
2014 8,324,195 8.4
726 / 62,300
2018 1,241,976 4.8
483 / 61,892

Prague municipal elections

Year Leader Vote Vote % Seats +/− Place Position
2010 Zdeněk Tůma 1,043,008 30.2
26 / 65
 1st Opposition (2010–2013)
2014 Tomáš Hudeček 4,158,226 20.1
16 / 65
 Decrease10 2nd Opposition
2018 Jiří Pospíšil 4,127,063 16.3
13 / 65
 Decrease3 4th Coalition

Regional election

Year Vote Vote % Seats +/- Place Note
2012 175,089 6.6
19 / 675
 5th
2016 86,164 Decrease 3.4 Decrease
19 / 675
 Steady 9th
2020 Party didn't run on a single list
20 / 675
 1 Increase 9th [n 1]
Former TOP09 leaders Karel von Schwarzenberg and Miroslav Kalousek

2020 Czech regional election results[36]

Region Coalition partner # of
overall votes		 % of
overall vote		 Seats Governance[37]
# ± Position
Central Bohemian Greens and Voice 24,650 5.89
2 / 65
 Decrease 3 Increase 5th STAN–ODS–Pirates–TOP 09+Greens-Voice
South Bohemian KDU-ČSL 20,798 10.45
3 / 55
 Steady Steady 7th ODS–KDU-ČSL+TOP 09–ČSSD–JIH12
Plzeň ODS 36,890 21.23
2 / 45
 Decrease 1 Decrease 7th ODS+TOP 09–STAN–Pirates
Karlovy Vary STAN 11,700 14.66
1 / 45
 Steady Decrease 10th STAN+TOP 09-Pirates-ODS+KDU ČSL-Local movements
Ústí nad Labem Greens and SNK ED 12,220 6.11
1 / 55
 Increase 1 Increase 8th ANO–ODS–TOP 09+Greens
Liberec KDU-ČSL 5,328 3.83 — Steady Increase 7th Mayors for Liberec Region–Pirates–ODS
Hradec Králové Hradec Králové Democratic Club 13,891 7.84
1 / 45
 Decrease 3 Decrease 10th ODS+STAN+VČ–KDU-ČSL–Pirates–TOP 09+HDK
Pardubice ODS 23,434 14.10
2 / 45
 Increase 2 Increase 8th ČSSD–ODS+TOP 09–KDU-ČSL–STAN
Vysočina KAN and Czech Crown 7,972 4.99 — Steady Steady 8th ODS+STO–Pirates–KDU-ČSL–ČSSD–STAN
South Moravian Greens 24,039 6.62
4 / 65
 Increase 1 Steady 6th KDU-ČSL–Pirates–ODS–STAN
Olomouc KDU-ČSL and Greens 34,519 18.43
2 / 55
 Increase 2 Increase 7th STAN+Pirates–KDU-ČSL+TOP 09–ODS
Zlín STAN 24,396 12.69
1 / 45
 Increase 1 Increase 10th ANO–Pirates–ODS–ČSSD
Moravian-Silesian ODS 43,637 13.84
1 / 65
 Increase 1 Increase 7th ANO–ODS+TOP 09–KDU-ČSL–ČSSD

Leaders

Symbols

  • Party logo 2009–2017
  • Party logo 2017–present

Notes

  1. [n 1]
    Including one member elected as a nominee of Mayors and Independents

References

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    Aktualne.cz
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