List of presidents of Czechoslovakia (WFAC)

President of the Czechoslovak Federative Republic Prezident Československá federativní republika Prezident Československá federativná republika
Presidential standard
Incumbent Petr Pavel since 10 March 2023
Style	His Excellency
Residence	Prague Castle Bratislava Castle
Seat	Prague Bratislava
Appointer	Popular vote
Term length	Five years renewable once, consecutively
Inaugural holder	Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk
Formation	Constitution of Czechoslovakia
Salary	1,270,770 Kč (€ 110,880) annually

The President of the Czechoslovakia is the head of state of Czechoslovakia. Unlike his counterparts in Austria and Hungary, who are generally considered figureheads, the Czech president has a considerable role in political affairs, despite having limited constitutional powers. Because many of his or her powers can only be exercised with the signatures of both himself and the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, responsibility over some political issues is effectively shared between the two offices.

The President according to the Czechoslovak Constitution

The president is elected by both chambers of parliament in joint session (acting in accordance with the standing orders of the lower chamber). The presidential term of office was originally of seven years, with a term limit of two terms (the first president was exempted from this provision). In 1946, this was reduced to five years. Candidates for the presidency have to be at least 35 years old.

Although the constitutional powers of the presidency were limited, the personal prestige of the first president, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, and the weakness of successive governments meant that the president wielded in practice more authority than the plain text of the constitution suggested. The constitution laid down that all executive functions rested with the government except as expressly assigned to the president. However, as the president could address written or verbal messages to parliament, appoint and dismiss ministers, attend and preside over cabinet meetings, and demand written reports from individual ministers, presidential influence on the executive was in practice considerable.

The president concluded and ratified international treaties, saving that treaties imposing personal or military burdens upon the subject or involving territorial changes required parliamentary consent. The president could return to parliament, with accompanying observations, any law. Whereupon, parliament could by majority vote re-affirm the law to bypass the president. If there was no majority in the senate, then the lower chamber could pass the law unilaterally by a subsequent vote by means of a three-fifths majority, bypassing the upper chamber and the president. The president was commander-in-chief, and appointed all high-ranking officers, university professors, judges and senior civil servants.

In periods when the post of the president of the Czechoslovak Republic is vacant, some presidential duties are carried out by the Prime Minister. However, the Czechoslovak constitution does not define anything like a post of acting president.

List of officeholders (since 1918)

Republic of Czechoslovakia (1918–1938)

Nº	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Ethnicity	Term of office			Party		Electoral mandates
				Took office	Left office	Duration
1		Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (1850–1937)	Czech	14 November 1918	27 May 1920	17 years, 30 days		Independent	1918
				27 May 1920	27 May 1927				1920
				27 May 1927	24 May 1934				1927
				24 May 1934	14 December 1935				1934
			First President of the Czechoslovak Republic. During World War I Masaryk was one of the leaders of the Czechoslovak independence movement fighting for the liberation their homeland from Austria-Hungary. Founded the Czechoslovak National Council in 1916 together with Edvard Beneš and Milan Rastislav Štefánik and served as its from 1916 to 1918. As one of the co-founders of Czechoslovakia in 1918, he was elected President in 1918 by the Revolutionary National Assembly and re-elected in 1920, 1927 and 1934. Resigned on 14 December 1935 due to health reasons.
2		Edvard Beneš (1884–1948)	Czech	18 December 1935	17 November 1938	2 years, 334 days		Czechoslovak National Socialist Party (ČSNS)	1935
			Diplomat. Foreign Minister, 1918–1935. Prime Minister, 1921–1922. One of the leaders of the Czechoslovak independence movement fighting for the liberation their homeland from Austria-Hungary during World War I. One of the leading members of the Czechoslovak National Council between 1916 and 1918. Elected in 1935, his term was marked by growing tensions with the Sudeten German minority and Nazi Germany, culminating in the Sudeten Crisis of 1938. Beneš and the Czechoslovak government was exiled to Romania on 25 October 1938 following Czechoslovakia's defeat to the German invasion of 1938.

Czechoslovak government-in-exile (1938–1945)

Nº	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Ethnicity	Term of office			Party		Electoral mandates
				Took office	Left office	Duration
—		Edvard Beneš (1884–1948)	Czech	17 November 1938	2 April 1945	6 years, 345 days		Czechoslovak National Socialist Party (ČSNS)	Provisional Czechoslovak Government
				2 April 1945	28 October 1945
			On 17 November 1938, he established the Provisional Czechoslovak Government as the Czechoslovak government in exile, with himself as its President. Served as President of the Provisional Czechoslovak Government for the duration of World War II. Reestablishing a coalition government known as the National Front, with the Social Democrat Václav Majer as prime minister, on native soil in Košice on 3 April 1945 and entered Prague on 16 May. Following the Liberation of Czechoslovakia, he ruled by the so-called Beneš decrees (officially called "Decrees of the President of the Republic") which orchestrated the nationalization of essential industries, confiscation of German and Hungarian property without compensation, and the expulsion of millions of Sudeten Germans and tens of thousands of Hungarians. Continued to govern by decree until 28 October 1945, when the Interim National Assembly convened.

Republic of Czechoslovakia (1945–1948)

Nº	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Ethnicity	Term of office			Party		Electoral mandates
				Took office	Left office	Duration
3		Edvard Beneš (1884–1948)	Czech	28 October 1945	19 June 1946	2 years, 311 days		Czechoslovak National Socialist Party (ČSNS)	Interim National Assembly
				19 June 1946	3 September 1948 †				1946
			Confirmed by the Interim National Assembly on 28 October 1945 as the president elected on 18 December 1935. Reelected president on 19 June 1946 by the National Constituent Assembly. One of the principal architects of Czechoslovakia's postwar foreign policy of neutrality known as the Beneš–Masaryk doctrine, which established Czechoslovakia's role as a diplomatic mediator between the Soviet Union and the West. Facing the Communist coup d'état attempt in February 1948, he dismissed the Communist ministers from the government and declared martial law. Signed the new Czechoslovak Constitution on 8 May 1948, thus founding the Czechoslovak Federative Republic. Signed the Czechoslovak-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation of 1948 and the Law on Czechoslovak Neutrality 1948. Already in poor health after suffering a stroke in 1947, he died in office on 3 September 1948.

Czechoslovak Federative Republic (since 1948)

Nº	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Ethnicity	Term of office			Party		Electoral mandates
				Took office	Left office	Duration
3		Jan Masaryk (1886–1967)	Czech	17 September 1948	17 September 1953	3652 days (10 years)		Independent	1948
				17 September 1953	17 September 1958				1953
			Diplomat. Son of first president Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, 1925–1938. Foreign Minister 1938–1948. Served in the Czechoslovak government-in-exile during World War II. Negotiated Czechoslovakia's participation in the US-led Marshall Plan (European Recovery Program). Continued the "active neutrality" policy of his predecessor President Edvard Beneš that came to be known as the Beneš–Masaryk doctrine, under which Czechoslovakia maintained good relations and extensive trade with both the West and the East and acted as a diplomatic mediator between the Soviet Union and NATO.
4		Štefan Osuský (1889–1973)	Slovak	17 September 1958	17 September 1963	3653 days (10 years)		Independent	1958
				17 September 1963	17 September 1968				1958
				Diplomat. Ambassador to France, 1921–1939. Served in the Czechoslovak government-in-exile during World War II. After the war he again served as Ambassador to France from 1945 to 1948. Foreign Minister 1948–1958. As president he continued the neutrality policy of his predecessors. Reelected in the 1963 election. Continued the "active neutrality" policy of the Beneš–Masaryk doctrine.
5		Ludvík Svoboda (1895–1979)	Czech	17 September 1968	17 September 1973	1826 days (10 years)		Independent	1968
				17 September 1973	17 September 1978				1973
			Army general. Commander of the Czechoslovak Legion in the USSR from 1942 to 1945. Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Czechoslovak Armed Forces from 1945 to 1951. Head of the Czechoslovak Ground Forces 1954 to 1960. Chief of the General Staff from 1960 to 1966.
6		Jiří Hájek (1913–1993)	Czech	13 October 1978	4 March 1983	4 years, 142 days		Czechoslovak Social Democratic Party (ČSSD)	1978
			Diplomat. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, 1955–1958. Ambassador to France, 1958–1962. Permanent Representative to the UN, 1962–1968. Foreign Minister, 1968–1973. He retired in 1983 after the conclusion of his second term.
8		Alexander Dubček (1921–2006)	Slovak	5 March 1983	5 March 1988	10 years, 0 days		Czechoslovak Social Democratic Party (ČSSD)	1983
				5 March 1988	5 March 1993				1988
			Prime Minister, 1968–1976 and 1978–1982. Leader of the Czechoslovak Social Democratic Party, 1967–1981. The first president elected by direct popular vote. Reelected in the 1988 election against Lubor Zink. Enjoyed a close relationship with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and acted as a diplomatic mediator between Gorbachev and U.S. President Ronald Reagan. Hosted the Prague Summit of 1986. He retired in 1993 after the conclusion of his second term.
9		Madeleine Dienstbierová (1937–2022)	Czech	6 March 1993	6 March 1998	10 years, 0 days		Czechoslovak National Socialist Party (ČSNS)	1993
				6 March 1998	6 March 2003				1998
			Diplomat. Ambassador to Canada, 1973–1975. Ambassador to the United States, 1975–1980. Foreign Minister, 1980–1986. Permanent Representative to the UN, 1987–1991. Supported Czechoslovakia's entry into the European Union and NATO. Second female president and the first president of Jewish origin.
10		Václav Klaus (1941–)	Czech	7 March 2003	7 March 2008	10 years, 0 days		Republican Party (RS)	2003
				7 March 2008	7 March 2013				2008
			Prime Minister 1986–1996. Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, 1998–2002. Minister of Finance, 1976–1979. Premier of Bohemia, 1979–1986. Leader of the Republican Party, 1984–1999. Elected in 2003 and reelected in 2008. His presidency was marked by many controversies over his strong opinions on issues ranging from euroscepticism to immigration, the open antagonism between Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek and Klaus, and a wide-ranging amnesty declared in his last months of office, triggering his indictment by the Czechoslovak Senate on charges of high treason.
11		Miloš Zeman (1944–)	Czech	8 March 2013	8 March 2018	5 years, 0 days		Czechoslovak Social Democratic Party (ČSSD)	2013
			Prime Minister, 1996–2002. Leader of the Czechoslovak Social Democratic Party, 1992–2002. Premier of Bohemia, 1987–1991. Defeated in the 2003 election, he was elected in 2013 election. His presidency was like his predecesor marked by many controversies, ranging from his support of authoritarian tendencies, populist and defamatory statements. He was criticized for being one of the European Union's most Kremlin-friendly leaders due to his pro-Soviet stance. He enjoyed a close relationship with Prime Minister Robert Fico. Narrowly defeated in the runoff of the 2017 election.
12		Zuzana Čaputová (1973–)	Slovak	9 March 2018	9 March 2023	5 years, 0 days		Green Party (SZ)	2017
			Lawyer and environmental activist. Elected in 2017. Declined to seek a second term for personal reasons.
13		Petr Pavel (1961–)	Czech	10 March 2023	Incumbent	1 year, 255 days		Independent	2023
			Army general. Chairman of the NATO Military Committee from 2015 to 2018. Chief of the General Staff of the Czechoslovak Armed Forces from 2012 to 2015. Elected in 2023.

See also

• List of Prime Ministers of Czechoslovakia (WFAC)