At stake in this election:

• 27 seats in the Senate (Senat)

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Vaclav KLAUS
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Petr NECAS
• Assembly: Czech Republic has a bicameral Parliament (Parlament) consisting of the Senate (Senat) with 81 seats and the Chamber of Deputies (Poslanecka Snemovna) with 200 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by parliament to serve a 5-year term.
• Prime Minister is appointed by the President to serve a 5-year term.
• In the Senate (Senat) 81 members are elected by absolute majority vote in single-member constituencies to serve 6-year terms*. In the Chamber of Deputies (Poslanecka Snemovna) 200 members are elected through a flexible-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms.**

* A second round is held six days later if no candidate receives an absolute majority in the first. One third of the Senate is renewed every two years.

** Electors may cast two preference votes for candidates on their chosen party list. There are 14 multi-member constituencies. Votes are tabulated using the D’Hondt method. A threshold of 5% is required in order for a party to enter the Chamber of Deputies. The threshold is 10% in case of a coalition of two parties, 15% for a coalition of three parties, 20% for a coalition of four or more parties.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: Civic Democratic Party / Občanská demokratická strana (ODS)
  • Leader: Petr NECAS
• Party: Czech Social Democratic Party / Česká strana sociálně demokratická (CSSD)
  • Leader: Jiří PAROUBEK
• Party: Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia / Komunistická strana Čech a Moravy (KSCM)
  • Leader: Vojtech FILIP
• Party: Christian Democratic Union-Czechoslovak People's Party / Křesťanská a demokratická unie – Československá strana lidová (KDU-CSL)
  • Leader: Cyril Sv SVOBADA
• Party: Green Party / Strana zelených (SZ)
  • Leader: Ondřej LISKA
• Party: Tradition Responsibility Prosperity 09 / Tradice Odpovědnost Prosperita 09 (TOP 09)
  • Leader: Karel SCHWARZENBERG
• Party: Public Affairs / Věci veřejné (VV)
  • Leader: Radek JOHN
• Party: Other Parties
  • Leader: N/A

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 10,474,410 (2010)
• Registered Voters: 2,774,178 (October 2010 Total reflects the number of registered voters in the 27 Senate districts holding elections on 15 October 2010.)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 5,334,919 (2010)

·         Is Czech Republic a signatory to CEDAW: No

·         Has Czech Republic ratified CEDAW: Yes, succession (22 February 1993)

·         Gender Quota: No

·         Female candidates in this election: Yes

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 44 (Chamber of Deputies); 4 (Senate) (following the 2010 elections)

·         Human Development Index Position: 28 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Very Low (2014)

Disability Data:

·         Is Czech Republic a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)

·         Has Czech Republic ratified CRPD: Yes (28 September 2009)

·         Population with a disability: 1,571,161 (est.)