Country name:
conventional long form: Czech Republic
conventional short form:
Czech Republic
local long form:
Ceska republika
local short form:
Cesko
Government type:
parliamentary democracy
Capital:
name: Prague
geographic coordinates:
50 05 N, 14 28 E
time difference:
UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
daylight saving time:
+1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October
Administrative divisions:
13 regions (kraje, singular - kraj) and 1 capital city* (hlavni mesto); Jihocesky (South Bohemia), Jihomoravsky (South Moravia), Karlovarsky (Karlovy Vary), Kralovehradecky (Hradec Kralove), Liberecky (Liberec), Moravskoslezsky (Moravia-Silesia), Olomoucky (Olomouc), Pardubicky (Pardubice), Plzensky (Pilsen), Praha (Prague)*, Stredocesky (Central Bohemia), Ustecky (Usti), Vysocina (Highlands), Zlinsky (Zlin)
Independence:
1 January 1993 (Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia); note - although 1 January is the day the Czech Republic came into being, the Czechs commemorate 28 October 1918, the day the former Czechoslovakia declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, as their independence day
National holiday:
Czechoslovak Founding Day, 28 October (1918)
Constitution:
previous 1960; latest ratified 16 December 1992, effective 1 January 1993; amended several times, last in 2013 (2013)
Legal system:
in 2014, a new civil code will replace the existing civil law system, which is based on former Austro-Hungarian civil codes and socialist theory and has been amended 40 times since the Communist regime fell in 1989
International law organization participation:
has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; accepts ICCt jurisdiction
Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal
[see also: Suffrage country ranks ]
Executive branch:
chief of state: President Milos ZEMAN (since 8 March 2013)
head of government:
Prime Minister Bohuslav SOBOTKA (since 29 January 2014); First Deputy Prime Minister Andrej BABIS and Deputy Prime Minister Pavel BELOBRADEK (both since 29 January 2014)
cabinet:
Cabinet appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister
elections:
constitutional amendment passed in 2012 introduced presidential election by popular vote instead of by Parliament; president elected for a five-year term (may not serve more than two consecutive terms); elections last held on 11-12 January 2013 with a runoff on 25-26 January 2013 (next to be held in January 2018); prime minister appointed by the president
election results:
Milos ZEMAN elected president; percent of popular vote - Milos ZEMAN 54.8%, Karel SCHWARZENBERG 45.2%
Legislative branch:
bicameral Parliament or Parlament consists of the Senate or Senat (81 seats; members 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 elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections:
Senate - last held in two rounds on 12-13 and 19-20 October 2012 (next to be held in October 2014); Chamber of Deputies - last held on 25-26 October 2013 (next to be held in 2017)
election results:
Senate - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - CSSD 48, ODS 15, KDU-CSL 4, TOP 09 4, North Bohemians 2, KSCM 2, Green 1, Ostravak 1, Pirate 1, independent 3; Chamber of Deputies - percent of vote by party - CSSD 20.5%, ANO 2011 18.7%, KSCM 14.9%, TOP 09 12%, ODS 7.7%%, Usvit 6.9%, KDU-CSL 6.8% other 12.5%; seats by party - CSSD 50, ANO 2011 47, KSCM 33, TOP 09 26, ODS 16, Usvit 14, KDU-CSL 14
Judicial branch:
highest court(s): Supreme Court (organized into Civil Law and Commercial Division, and Criminal Division each with a court chief justice, vice justice, and several judges); Constitutional Court (consists of 15 justices); Supreme Administrative Court (consists of 28 judges)
judge selection and term of office:
Supreme Court judges proposed by the Chamber of Deputies and appointed by the president; judges appointed for life; Constitutional Court judges appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate; judges appointed for 10-year, renewable terms; Supreme Administrative Court judges selected by the president of the Court; judge term NA
subordinate courts:
High Court; superior, regional, and district courts
Political parties and leaders:
Association of Independent Candidates-European Democrats or SNK-ED [Zdenka MARKOVA]
Political pressure groups and leaders:
Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions or CMKOS [Jaroslav ZAVADIL]
International organization participation:
Australia Group, BIS, BSEC (observer), CD, CE, CEI, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, EIB, ESA, EU, FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC (national committees), ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), MIGA, MONUSCO, NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OIF (observer), OPCW, OSCE, PCA, Schengen Convention, SELEC (observer), UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU (NGOs), WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC
Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Petr GANDALOVIC (since 23 May 2011)
chancery:
3900 Spring of Freedom Street NW, Washington, DC 20008
telephone:
[1] (202) 274-9100
FAX:
[1] (202) 966-8540
consulate(s) general:
Chicago, Los Angeles, New York
Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Norman L. EISEN (since 14 January 2011)
embassy:
Trziste 15, 118 01 Prague 1 - Mala Strana
mailing address:
use embassy street address
telephone:
[420] 257 022 000
FAX:
[420] 257 022 809
Flag description:
two equal horizontal bands of white (top) and red with a blue isosceles triangle based on the hoist side
note:
is identical to the flag of the former Czechoslovakia
National symbol(s):
double-tailed lion
National anthem:
name: "Kde domov muj?" (Where is My Home?)
lyrics/music: Josef Kajetan TYL/Frantisek Jan SKROUP
note: adopted 1993; the anthem is a verse from the former Czechoslovak anthem originally written as part of the opera "Fidlovacka"
NOTE: 1) The information regarding Czech Republic on this page is re-published from the 2014 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Czech Republic Government 2014 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Czech Republic Government 2014 should be addressed to the CIA.
2) The rank that you see is the CIA reported rank, which may habe the following issues:
a) They assign increasing rank number, alphabetically for countries with the same value of the ranked item, whereas we assign them the same rank.
b) The CIA sometimes assignes counterintuitive ranks. For example, it assigns unemployment rates in increasing order, whereas we rank them in decreasing order
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This page was last modified 06-Nov-14