The Rally for the Republic – Republican Party of Czechoslovakia (Czech: Sdružení pro republiku - Republikánská strana Československa, abbreviated to Republikáni or SPR–RSČ) is a minor political party in the Czech Republic, strongly opposed to the EU, NATO and immigration. The party and its leader Miroslav Sládek are particularly known for their radical attitudes towards Roma people (antiziganism) and Germans.
History
The party was founded on December 30, 1989 as one of the first political parties in post-communist Czechoslovakia. It peaked in the 1996 Czech legislative election with 8% of the vote (485,072 electors, 18 seats in the 200-seat Chamber of Deputies) but declined after that, and in 2001 disbanded due to financial irregularities – specifically the theft of party funds by the chairman, who used the money to fund his luxury lifestyle.[10]
The party was reestablished in 2001 as Republicans of Miroslav Sládek (RMS, Republikáni Miroslava Sládka). Sládek immediately set up a new party; to distinguish it from the other "republican" parties his name was added. The new party failed to attract a significant number of votes (0.9% during 2002 Czech legislative election was the highest). For the 2006 elections RMS joined with the National Party, which obtained 0.1% of votes. The number of active members was estimated to be in the dozens at most.[11]
On May 17, 2008 this new party merged with five other minor parties to form the SPR–RSČ. The renewed party chose Sládek as chairman, yet even after the merger the party failed to gain political traction. For non-compliance with statutory obligations, the Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic (acting on a Czech government proposal) decided in December 2010 to temporarily suspend the Republican party's activities. Finally, on 15 May 2013, the Court ordered its complete dissolution.
The party was reestablished once again in February 2016 under the name Rally for the Republic – Republican Party of Czechoslovakia 2016.[12]
^Nordsieck, Wolfram (2023). Parties and Elections in Europe: Parliamentary Elections and Governments since 1945, European Parliament Elections, Political Orientation and History of Parties. BoD – Books on Demand. p. 131. ISBN9783734706691.
^Mareš, Miroslav (2000). Constituing the Far Right in the Czech Party System. Development of the SPR-RSČ from the turn of 1989/1990 to Parliamentary Election 1992 (in Czech). p. 1.
^Minkenberg, Michael (2015). Transforming the Transformation?: The East European Radical Right in the Political Process. Routledge. p. 213. ISBN9781317549390.
^O'Dwyer, Conor (2018). Coming Out of Communism: The Emergence of LGBT Activism in Eastern Europe. NYU Press. p. 75. ISBN9781479851485.
^Zenkner, Petr (June 5, 2013). "On byl první. Populista i politický podnikatel" [He was the first. Populist and political entrepreneur]. Demokratický střed (in Czech). Retrieved November 25, 2014.
