The Civic Movement ( cs, Občanské hnutí, OH) was a liberal political party based in the Czech Republic, which existed from 1991 to 1995. The party was established after the break-up of

Civic Forum The Civic Forum (Czech: ''Občanské fórum'', OF) was a political movement in the Czech part of Czechoslovakia, established during the Velvet Revolution in 1989. The corresponding movement in Slovakia was called Public Against Violence ( Slovak: ...

by the liberal wing of Civic Forum, while the conservative wing established the Civic Democratic Party. Foreign Minister

Jiří Dienstbier Jiří Dienstbier (20 April 1937 – 8 January 2011) was a Czech politician and journalist. Born in Kladno, he was one of Czechoslovakia's most respected foreign correspondents before being fired after the Prague Spring. Unable to have a liveliho ...

was elected leader of the Civic Movement. The party participated in the 1992 legislative election but failed to reach the required 5% threshold and was left without parliamentary representation. The party then renamed itself as the Free Democrats (''Svobodní demokraté'', SD), modelled on the Free Democratic Party of Germany, as the party tried to position itself as a more clearcut liberal party. The party joined the

Liberal International Liberal International (LI) is a worldwide organization of liberal political parties - a political international. It was founded in Oxford in 1947 and has become the pre-eminent network for liberal parties, aiming to strengthen liberalism around ...

and was admitted as an affiliate to the European Liberal Democrats and Reformists (ELDR) in 1994. In December 1995 the Free Democrats merged with the

Liberal National Social Party Czech National Social Party (Czech: ''Česká strana národně sociální'', ČSNS) is a civic nationalist political party in the Czech Republic, that once played an important role in Czechoslovakia during the interwar period. It was established ...

(successor to the former bloc party

Czechoslovak Socialist Party Czech National Social Party (Czech: ''Česká strana národně sociální'', ČSNS) is a civic nationalist political party in the Czech Republic, that once played an important role in Czechoslovakia during the interwar period. It was established ...

) and formed the ''Free Democrats – Liberal National Social Party'' (SD-LSNS), which was again, however, unsuccessful in the 1996 legislative election. Some former members of OH established the

Party for the Open Society The Party for the Open Society ( cs, Strana pro otevřenou společnost, SOS) is a minor social liberal political party in the Czech Republic. The party origins were in the Civic Movement ( cs, Občanské Hnutí), a liberal group founded in 1991 w ...

in 1998.

Election results

Chamber of Deputies

References

{{Authority control Defunct political parties in the Czech Republic Liberal parties in the Czech Republic Defunct liberal political parties Political parties in Czechoslovakia Political parties established in 1991 Political parties disestablished in 1991 1991 establishments in Czechoslovakia 1996 disestablishments in the Czech Republic Centrist political parties in the Czech Republic Civic Forum breakaway groups