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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 přímá demokracie
AbbreviationSPD
LeaderTomio Okamura
Deputy LeadersRadim Fiala
Ivan David
Radek Rozvoral
Radovan Vích
Founded5 May 2015; 9 years ago (2015-05-05)
Split fromDawn of Direct Democracy
HeadquartersRytířská 6, Prague[1]
NewspaperNa vlastní oči[2]
Youth wingMladí Espéďáci
Membership (2022)10,682[3]
Ideology
Political positionRight-wing to far-right
European affiliationEurope of Sovereign Nations Party (since 2024)
ID Party (2015–2024)
European Parliament groupEurope of Sovereign Nations (since 2024)
ID (2019–2024)[22]
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 přímá demokracie, SPD) is a political party in the Czech Republic.[23] It is led by Tomio Okamura and it holds 20 seats in the Chamber of Deputies.

The party has been described as right-wing[24] or far-right[29] on the political spectrum.[30] It has also been described as espousing right-wing populism[31] and has expressed opposition to immigration[11][12] and is staunchly Eurosceptic,[4][14] 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 was the fastest growing party in the country in terms of members.[3]

History

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 held 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.[32][33][34] 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,[35] and Marine Le Pen endorsed SPD before the 2017 Czech legislative election.[36]

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.[37]

In 2019, following the European Parliament elections, SPD entered the European Parliament with two MEPs, who sit with the Identity and Democracy group.[38]

In July 2020, SPD MP Tereza Hyťhová defected to become the third MP for the Tricolour Citizens' Movement.[39]

During the 2021 Czech legislative election, SPD finished fourth with 20 MPs.[40]

On 25 February 2022,[41] the party established its own think tank, the Institute of Freedom and Direct Democracy,[42] focused on the "development of democracy, the rule of law, pluralism of opinions and the protection of fundamental human rights",[43] with Josef Nerušil as its first Chairman.[44]

On 14 September 2022, MEP Hynek Blaško left SPD due to disagreement with Okamura's leadership of the party.[45]

On 28 June 2024, Freedom and Direct Democracy announced it would leave the Identity and Democracy group to form a new, Alternative for Germany-led group called "Europe of Sovereign Nations", citing disagreements with ANO 2011 on the European Green Deal, immigration, censorship and Ukraine.[46][47]

Mladí Espéďáci

The party's youth wing, Mladí Espéďáci (English: Young SPD members; MES) was established in April 2021 via Facebook,[48][49] with Martin Malášek as the first leader.[49] Diana Chodžajanová, a former contestant in Česko hledá SuperStar, became one of the faces of MES, appearing in short clips to promote the organisation.[50] In July 2022 the MES page was removed from Facebook.[51]

Cultural impact

A 2017 song by SPD supporters Jan Žižka and Olivie Žižková called Já volím SPD (I'm voting SPD) went viral in the Czech Republic and became the target of ridicule.[52][53] This led to Žižková being jokingly voted into the top 30 female singers at the 2017 Český slavík awards.[54]

Policies and ideology

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.[55] Political commentators have variously described the party as right-wing populist, nationalist and anti-immigration in its platform and rhetoric.[11][12] SPD has described itself as a national conservative party.[56] 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.[57][58] SPD has been described as neo-fascist by news outlets Balkan Insight and bne Intellinews.[59][60]

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[61] and believes that migrant quotas will lead to the "Islamization" of Europe.[62][63][64][65] SPD takes a pro-Israel stance on the Israel–Hamas war, with Okamura stating that he supports Israel on all major issues.[66] Okamura has called for ending Czech military aid to Ukraine in the Russo-Ukrainian War and advocated peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.[67]

Membership

Tomio Okamura often claims that SPD has a membership of thousands of members. In October 2017 he claimed that SPD has 7,000 members,[68] 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.[69] The party had 1,400 members in July 2018.[70]

Election results

Presidential

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

Chamber of Deputies

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

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 Zlín district. Lubomír Nečas was a SPO candidate supported by SPD.
2018 70,110 6.44 7th  
0 / 27
2020 61,352 6.15 7th  
0 / 27
2022 85,855 7.72 4th 2,791 0.58 15th
0 / 27
2024 42,733 5.39 6th 3,318 0.85 11th
0 / 27

Local election

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

European Parliament

Election List leader Votes % Seats +/− EP Group
2019 Ivan David 216,718 9.14 (#5)
2 / 21
 New ID
2024[a] Petr Mach 170,172 5.73 (#7)
1 / 21
 Decrease 1 ESN
  1. ^ Run in a joint list with Tricolour.

Regional election

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

Year Leader Vote Vote % Seats +/− Place Position
2018 Hynek Beran 895,859 3.54%
0 / 65
 0 6th
2022 Milan Urban 1 218, 622 5.17%
3 / 65
 Increase 3 6th

References

  1. ^ "Seznam politických stran a hnutí" (in Czech). Czech Ministry of the Interior.
  2. ^ "Tomio Okamura: První číslo nových novin SPD - Na vlastní oči". spd.cz (in Czech). 11 September 2017. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  3. ^ a b Brodníčková, Karolina (27 June 2023). "Nejvíc přibylo členů SPD, padá ODS". Novinky.cz.
  4. ^ a b c d e "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 c Nordsieck, Wolfram (2017). "Czechia". Parties and Elections in Europe.
  6. ^ a b "Volební zisky evropské krajní pravice jsou zatím vyšší než české". Lidovky.cz (in Czech). 23 December 2016. Archived from the original on 27 May 2019. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
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  8. ^ "Revoluce v Evropě? Něco se děje, podívejte se na Česko, píše se v Británii". EuroZprávy.cz (in Czech). Archived from the original on 15 September 2017. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
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  11. ^ a b c "Okamura registers new anti-immigrant party Freedom and Direct Democracy". Radio Prague. 16 June 2015. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  12. ^ a b c 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.
  13. ^ [11][12]
  14. ^ a b 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.
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  25. ^ Muller, Robert; Lopatka, Jan (21 October 2017). "Far-right scores surprise success in Czech election". Reuters. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
  26. ^ 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.
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  30. ^
  31. ^ [4][5][6]
  32. ^ Okamura, Tomio. "» Rozhovor Tomia Okamury pro EuroZprávy.cz". Freedom and Direct Democracy. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
  33. ^ "Okamura a Fiala skončili v hnutí Úsvit, zakládají novou stranu". Czech Radio. 5 May 2015. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
  34. ^ "Řekli v Událostech, komentářích — Události, komentáře". Czech Television. Archived from the original on October 9, 2015.
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  38. ^ "Czechia sends representatives of populist ANO, neo-fascist SPD and Communists to European Parliament". intellinews.com. 2019-05-28. Retrieved 2021-02-02.
  39. ^ "Hyťhová opouští poslanecký klub SPD, bude spolupracovat s Trikolórou". iDNES.cz (in Czech). 27 July 2020. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  40. ^ "Results". E15.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 2021-10-10.
  41. ^ "Institut svobody a přímé demokracie, z. ú. - IČO 14294982 - Obchodní rejstřík na Podnikatel.cz". Podnikatel.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 22 April 2022.
  42. ^ "SPD připravuje vlastní politický institut. Dostane na něj peníze od státu". Seznam Zprávy (in Czech). January 2022. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  43. ^ "SPD má vlastní politickou neziskovku. Chce s ní rozvíjet demokracii a podporovat "vlastence"". romea.cz (in Czech). 2 March 2022. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
  44. ^ "SPD má vlastní politickou neziskovku. Chce s ní rozvíjet demokracii a podporovat "vlastence"". HlídacíPes.org (in Czech). 1 March 2022. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
  45. ^ Pánik, Jan (15 September 2022). "Blaško odešel z SPD. Holedbáte se demokracií, ale realita je zcela odlišná, napsal Okamurovi". forum24.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  46. ^ "Hnutí SPD bude v EP součástí nové frakce Evropa suverénních národů". Aktualne.cz. 28 June 2024.
  47. ^ ""Že jsou označováni za nácky? Mně jsou blízcí." SPD v europarlamentu míří do frakce vedené AfD". Hospodárske noviny. 28 June 2024.
  48. ^ "Sexuální násilí, klimatické změny, bydlení. Mladí straníci řekli, co štve vrstevníky". Aktuálně.cz (in Czech). 22 September 2021. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
  49. ^ a b "Okamurovi mládežníci startují. Na sociálních sítích rychle rostou". Studentské listy (in Czech). 22 June 2021. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
  50. ^ "Kráska ze SuperStar natáčí klipy pro SPD. Stala se tváří jejich mládežnické organizace". Insta Zprávy (in Czech). 29 July 2021. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
  51. ^ "Vrchní cenzor Tomio Okamura najednou bojuje za svobodu slova". forum24.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 20 April 2022.
  52. ^ "Lezou z popelnic, chodí bosi, zpívají a nelžou. Na co politici loví voliče?". iDNES.cz (in Czech). 2018-09-21. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  53. ^ "Xenofóbna česká speváčka otrasnou pesničkou podporuje Okamurovu stranu. Najhorší je rap jej manžela". closer.sme.sk (in Slovak). 2017-06-14. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  54. ^ Rožánek, Filip (2017-12-04). "Českého slavíka doběhly jeho metody". Hospodářské noviny (HN.cz) (in Czech). Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  55. ^ "Program". Freedom and Direct Democracy (in Czech).
  56. ^ "Jak Okamurovo hnutí vnímají jeho politici? SPD chce být národně konzervativní, pravolevé dělení neřeší". 30 October 2023.
  57. ^ "SPD lze označit za "parlamentní fašistické hnutí". Proč soud smetl žalobu na Respekt". Týdeník Respekt.
  58. ^ "Czech court rules it is proportionate for "Tomio Okamura's Freedom and Direct Democracy" to be called fascist, verdict has taken effect". 26 April 2023.
  59. ^ Anderson, Rob (15 July 2019). "Summer Strife Puts Czech PM's Populism to the Test". Balkan Insight. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
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  61. ^ "Program". Freedom and Direct Democracy (in Czech).
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  66. ^ "Jste blázen a odporný člověk, útočil Okamura na ministryni obrany kvůli Izraeli". Aktuálně.cz (in Czech). Economia. 3 November 2023.
  67. ^ "Okamura označil Ukrajince za "nácky", válku podle něj ukončí Trump". Novinky.cz (in Czech). Borgis. 8 April 2024.
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Further reading

  • Hloušek, Vít; Kopeček, Lubomír; Vodová, Petra (2020). The Rise of Entrepreneurial Parties in European Politics. Springer Nature. ISBN 978-3-030-41916-5.
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