Czechoslovak National Social Party (WFAC)

Czechoslovak National Social Party Czech: Československá strana národně sociální Slovak: Československá strana národne sociálnu
Abbreviation	ČSNS
Chairperson	Michal Klusáček
Deputy leaders	Radek Vondráček Alena Schillerová Michal Šimečka Jan Vondrouš
Chamber of Deputies leader	Alena Schillerová
Senate leader	Jaroslav Větrovský
MEP leader	Dita Charanzová
Founder	Josef Klečák Alois Simonides
Founded	4 April 1897 (1897-04-04)
Split from	Social Democratic Party and Young Czech Party
Headquarters	Melantrich Václavské náměstí 793/36 110 00 Prague
Newspaper	Český deník Česká demokracie České slovo Svobodné slovo
Membership (2021)	12,676 ▼
Ideology	Liberal socialism Social liberalism Civic nationalism Reformism Historical: Czechoslovakism Liberal socialism Reformist socialism
Political position	Centre to centre-left
European affiliation	Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
International affiliation	Liberal International Historical: International Entente of Radical and Similar Democratic Parties (1929–1936)
European Parliament group	Renew Europe
Colours	White, Red, Blue, Gold
Chamber of Deputies	0 / 200
Senate	0 / 100
Land governors	2 / 4
Land cabinets	2 / 4
Land assemblies	3 / 310
European Parliament	3 / 26
Party flag

The Czechoslovak National Social Party (Czech: Československá strana národně sociální, Slovak: Československá strana národne sociálnu, ČSNS) is a liberal socialist, social liberal and civic nationalist political party in Czechoslovakia.

The party was founded in 1897 as the National Workers' Party by break-away groups from both the national liberal Young Czech Party and the Social Democratic Party, with a stress on achieving independence of the Czech lands from Austria-Hungary (as opposed to the Social Democrats' aim for an international workers' revolution). Its variant of socialism was moderate and reformist rather than a Marxist one. After the creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918, the party played an important and influential political role and served in various government coalitions from 1918 to 1926 and 1929 to 1938. In 1926, the party was renamed to the Czechoslovak National Socialist Party. After the National Labour Party dissolved and merged with the National Socialists in 1930, the party also became the refuge for Czech liberals. Among its most important members at this time were Václav Klofáč, Františka Zemínová, Františka Plamínková and Edvard Beneš, a co-founder of Czechoslovakia and the country's second President from 1935 to 1948. During the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, the party functioned in exile and most of its members were active in the resistance movement. After 1945, the party was revived and has since played a central role in Czechoslovak politics, either as a coalition partner or as parliamentary support for both centre-left and centre-right governments.

A centrist to centre-left political party, the ČSNS ideologically draw upon both liberalism and socialism with roots in the social traditions of Hussitism and Taboritism. The party uphold the principles of private property, social justice and secularism. The party's program favours a market-based economy supplemented with social welfare spending and focuses on safeguarding civil liberties from state or corporate power via government transparency. The party promotes social-liberal approaches to issues like education policy, taxation and simplifying of state bureaucracy. The party is civic nationalist and are proponents of some protectionist policies to protect Czechoslovak economic interests, popular sovereignty and national self-determination. In foreign policy, the ČSNS is soft Eurosceptic, pursuiing a critical engagement with the European Union and is opposed to Czechoslovak entry into the eurozone. The ČSNS is historically strongest in urban areas, and the party's members and support base has historically consisted primarily of civil cervants, teachers, small business-owners, and middle-class voters. The party's member composition and voter base has a higher proportion of university educated members than the other major political parties in Czechoslovakia.

Since March 2022, the party has been led by Michal Klusáček. It is currently the _____ largest party in the Chamber of Deputies, with __ of the 200 seats, and won __._% of votes cast in the 2021 federal election. It holds seats in the legislatures of all four states. The party is a member of the Liberal International and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party, with its MEPs affiliated to the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament; of Czechoslovakia's 26 MEPs, 6 are members of the ČSNS .

Leadership

Party chairmen

No.	Chairperson (Born–Died)		Term of Office
―		Josef Klečák (1872–1938) Alois Simonides (1871–1927)	1897–1898
	Founding leaders until the 1st Party Congress in April 1898.
1		František Kváča (1857–1899)	1898–1899
2		Václav Klofáč (1898–1942)	1899–1914 1918–1938
The party was banned by the Germans in October 1938, but continued to exist as an underground organisation until May 1945.
3		Petr Zenkl (1884–1975)	1945–1962
4		Prokop Drtina (1900–1980)	1962–1968
5		Mojmír Povolný (1921–2012)	1968–1986
6		Ladislav Dvořák (1943–)	1986–1998
7		Jan Šula (1958–)	1998–2002
8		Jiří Paroubek (1952–)	2002–2022
9		Michal Klusáček (1964–)	2022–present

Election results

Cisleithanian elections

Imperial Council elections

Date	Leader	Votes		Seats			Government
		No.	%	No.	±	Position
1900–1901	Václav Klofáč	5,404	0.5%	4 / 425	▲ 4	16th	Opposition
1907		75,101	1.6%	6 / 516	▲ 2	21st	Opposition
1911		95,901	2.1%	13 / 516	▲ 7	15th	Opposition

Czechoslovakia wide elections

Legislative elections

Date	Leader	Votes		Seats			Government
		No.	%	No.	±	Position
1920	Václav Klofáč	500,821	8.1%	24 / 281	▲ 24	5th	Majority coalition (1920)
							External support (1920–1921)
							Majority coalition (1921–1925)
1925		609,915	8.6%	28 / 300	▼ 4	5th	Majority coalition (1925–1926)
							External support (1926)
							Opposition (1926–1929)
1929		767,328	10.4%	32 / 300	▲ 4	3rd	Opposition (1929)
							Majority coalition (1929–1935)
1935		755,872	9.2	28 / 300	▼ 4	5th	Majority coalition
1946	Petr Zenkl	728,784	10.3%	31 / 300	▲ 3	5th	Majority coalition
1948		814,027	11.1%	21 / 200	▼ 8	5th	Majority coalition
1952		665,181	8.4%	16 / 200	▼ 5	5th	Majority coalition
1956				0 / 200			Majority coalition
1960				0 / 200			Majority coalition
1964				0 / 200			Opposition
1968	Mojmír Povolný			0 / 200			Majority coalition
1972				0 / 200			Majority coalition
1976				0 / 200			External support
1978				0 / 200			Opposition (1978–1980)
							Majority coalition (1980–1982)
1982				0 / 200			Majority coalition
1986	Ladislav Dvořák			0 / 200			Majority coalition
1990				0 / 200			Opposition
1994				0 / 200			Opposition
1996	Jan Šula			0 / 200			Opposition
2000				0 / 200			External support
2002	Jiří Paroubek			0 / 200			Majority coalition
2006				0 / 200			Opposition
2010				0 / 200			Opposition
2013				0 / 200			Majority coalition
2017				0 / 200			Majority coalition
2021				0 / 200			Opposition

Senate elections

Date	Votes		Seats
	No.	%	No.	±	Position
1920	395,844	7.57%	10 / 150	▲ 10	5th
1925	516,250	8.47%	14 / 150	▲ 4	5th
1929	666,607	10.33%	16 / 150	▲ 2	3rd
1935	672,126	9.24%	14 / 150	▼ 2	5th
1948	634,575	9.88%	6 / 100	▼ 6	5th
1952		10.26%	6 / 100	▬	5th
1956			0 / 100
1960			0 / 100
1964			0 / 100
1968			0 / 100
1972			0 / 100
1976			0 / 100
1978			0 / 100
1982			0 / 100
1986			0 / 100
1990			0 / 100
1994			0 / 100
1996			0 / 100
2000			0 / 100
2002			0 / 100
2006			0 / 100
2010			0 / 100
2013			0 / 100
2017			0 / 100
2021			0 / 100

Presidential elections

Indirect Elections

Indirect election	Candidate		First round result			Second round result			Third round result
			Votes	%	Result	Votes	%	Result	Votes	%	Result
1920		Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (independent)	284 / 411	67.1%	Won
1927		Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (independent)	274 / 432	63.4%	Won
1934		Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (independent)	327 / 418	78.2%	Won
1935		Edvard Beneš	340 / 440	77.3%	Won
1946		Edvard Beneš	298 / 298	100.0%	Won
1948		Jan Masaryk (independent)	0 / 300	67.1%	Won
1953		Jan Masaryk (independent)	0 / 300	85.0%	Won
1958		Petr Zenkl	0 / 300		3rd place	Supported Jan Bělehrádek.
1963		Milada Horáková	0 / 300		Runner-up	0 / 300		Lost
1968		Ludvík Svoboda (independent)	0 / 300		Won
1973		Jiří Hájek (ČSSD, endorsed by ČSNS)	148 / 280	52.9%	1st place	140 / 264	53.0%	1st place	149 / 293	50.9%	1st place
			146 / 274	53.3%	1st place	143 / 263	54.4%	1st place	146 / 278	52.5%	1st place
			145 / 293	49.5%	Runner-up	147 / 297	49.5%	Runner-up	153 / 280	54.6%	Won

Direct Elections

Direct election	Candidate		First round result			Second round result
			Votes	%	Result	Votes	%	Result
1978		Jiří Hájek (ČSSD)			1st place			Won
1983		Mojmír Povolný			4th place	Endorsed Alexander Dubček.
1988		Alexander Dubček (ČSSD)			1st place			Won
1993		Madeleine Dienstbierová			1st place			Won
1998		Madeleine Dienstbierová			1st place			Won
2003		Jan Kavan (ČSSD)			Runner-up			Lost
2008		Jan Švejnar (ČSSD)			Runner-up			Lost
2013		Jiří Paroubek			4th place	Endorsed Miloš Zeman.
2018		Miloš Zeman (ČSSD)			1st place			Lost
2023		Robert Fico (ČSSD)			1st place			Lost

See also

• Political parties in Czechoslovakia