User:Kroulacek/2024 Czech Senate election

2024 Czech Senate election will be held in the October 2024, with the first round held together with the 2024 Czech regional elections and potential second round happening two weeks later.

Electoral system
One-third of the 81-member Senate is elected every two years, giving Senators six year terms. Members of the Senate are elected in single-member constituencies using the two-round system. Candidates had to be nominated by one or more registered political parties or collect at least 1,000 signatures in their constituency. There are no term limits for incumbent senators.

Background
This Senate election is the second and last election to the Senate happening during the term of Petr Fiala's cabinet; Government parties and their allies will defend 22 out of 27 seats, while the opposition holds only two seats that are up to election and three seats are held by independent candidates.

Similar to the 2020 Czech Senate election, this Senate election will be held concurrently with regional elections, with the exception of the capital city of Prague.

Changes during the term
Right after the 2018 Czech Senate election, two of the candidates elected as independents joined senate groups of parliamentary parties. Ladislav Faktor joined the group of ODS and TOP 09 and Jitka Chalánková become a member of the KDU-ČSL group. Only Pavel Fisher remained as formally independent.

Only one seat out of the 27 was contested in a by-election in the duration of the term, with the seat being the 32nd district – Teplice, originally held by ODS member and the President of Senate Jaroslav Kubera. Following his death, 2020 Teplice by-election was held with another ODS member, Hynek Hanza, winning the seat.

Several unsuccessful candidates in the 2018 Czech presidential election and 2023 Czech presidential election will have their seats up to re-election, including Jiří Drahoš, Pavel Fischer and Marek Hilšer. Term of a one member of the Fiala Cabinet, the Minister of Education Mikuláš Bek, is ending; Bek has however decided to not to stand for a re-election.

Composition of contested seats prior to the elections
Most seats up for the election, 13 out of 27, are held by the Spolu aliance, with 10 of these being held by ODS, two by KDU-ČSL and one by TOP 09. STAN lead bloc will defend seven seats and progressive pack composed of Pirates, SEN 21 and the Greens will be incumbent in two districts, with Pirates and SEN 21 defending one seat each

Opposition has only two incumbent seats, including last Senate seat held by SOCDEM in Karviná.

Three senators elected as independents will have their seats up for re-election, only two of them have chosen to contested the elections.

Alliances
Similar to the 2022 election, several parties have decided to form more or less formal alliances in some or all seats.

Spolu
Unlike two years prior, parties of the Spolu alliance have not signed any pre-electoral memorandum and are standing candidates mostly individually. Exception is Jiří Drahoš in Prague, who is supported by all parties in the Fiala government and Leopold Sukovský from Ostravak, who's candidacy is also supported by all three parties.

Pirates, SEN 21 and Greens
The Czech Pirate Party, SEN 21 and the Green Party have announced cooperation in 10 out of the 27 constituencies. Three candidates will be nominated by SEN 21, five by Pirates, two by Greens and one jointly by SEN 21 and Pirates.

Přísaha and Motorists
The coalition of Přísaha and Motorists have agreed to stand the leader of Přísaha as their joint candidate.