The Czech Chamber of Deputies

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The headquarters of the parliament stretches over four palaces: Thunovský, Auersperský, Smiřických and Šternberský, plus another building called simply Sněmovní 1.
The Chamber of Deputies is located in Thunovský Palace.
In 1779 this palace was converted into a theater. In 1794 the theater burnt down.
During the period of the first republic there were four elections, ten prime ministers and nineteen governments.
In the history of the Chamber of Deputies there have been five caretaker governments – three in the first republic and two since the revolution.
The first prime minister was Karel Kramář, who was in office from 18th November 1918 until 8th July 1919. His government didn’t even last a year, but it was not the shortest.
The shortest government was under Jan Syrový from 22nd September 1938 to 4th October 1938 or only 13 days. These were extraneous circumstances as it was the last government of the first republic.
Syrový was in this office for the shortest total time, 13 days in the first republic, and 58 days in the second republic, making a total of 71 days. In recent history the honor goes to Stanislav Gross of ČSSD, who governed for 265 days from 4th August 2004 until 25th April 2005. Masaryk was prime minister for a month during the interim government in 1918.
The prime minister with the most days in the job was Antonín Švehla, who clocked up 2103 days split over two periods (7/10/1922 to 18/3/1926 and 12/101926 to 1/2/1929). The prime minister with the longest single period in power was Václav Klaus with 2011 days from 2nd July 1992 to 2nd January 1998.
Václav Klaus and Edvard Beneš are the only politicians to serves as Prime Minister and later be elected president.

Elections
Elections to the Chamber of Deputies are based on proportional representation. Every Czech citizen 18 years of age and over has the right to vote. Elections occur every four years and are held over two days, always a Friday and Saturday. Voters either select a party on the ballot, which distributes preferences, or selects the party and numbers the candidates, 1 to 4, themselves. Voters should vote in the region where they have their permanent address unless they obtain a “voter’s pas” (voličský průkaz). This document entitles the holder to vote anywhere in the Czech Republic outside the region where they officially live.

The seats are not contested individually as in the UK. Rather the Czech Republic is divided into 14 election regions. The 200 seats in the chamber are then divided amongst the regions. The process is a bit complicated and can result in a different number of seats per region after each election. Anyway, the total number of votes cast in the country is divided by the number of members of parliament. This is the republic mandate number. The total number of votes in each region is then divided by this number to determine the number of seats contested for the region. The seats are then distributed via the d’Hondt Method. This link includes a good example how the method works.

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Functions
Passing legislation is the Chamber´s main function. New bills or proposals are presented to the chamber. If it passes its first reading it is then sent to relevant committees to discuss feasibility and amendments. At the second reading, the Chamber again votes on both amendments and the final draft. If the bill passes it goes to the Senate, who can either approve it or send it back but can’t make amendments. If the Senate rejects the bill this decision can be overturned by a simple majority in the lower house. Once approved, the bill goes to the president. If he signs it, it becomes law. If he vetoes it than the lower house can attempt to pass it with an absolute majority- this means more than half of all deputies vote in favor.

The second important function of the lower house is its role with the senate in electing the president. The election takes place in the last 30 days of a president’s term, which lasts five years. To be elected a candidate must win an absolute majority in separate elections in both houses, this means 101 votes in the lower house and 41 in the senate. If no candidate prevails, there is a second round. This time a simple majority is required in both houses. Should no winner result, a final election is held in which both houses are combined. An absolute majority of 141 votes is then required.

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