Ivan Bartoš (born 20 March 1980) is a Czech civil rights activist and a Czech Pirate Party politician, serving as the

Minister of Regional Development Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

and Deputy Prime Minister for Digitalization in the governing Cabinet of Petr Fiala since December 2021. He has been a member of the

Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic The Chamber of Deputies, officially the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic ( cs, Poslanecká sněmovna Parlamentu České republiky), is the lower house of the Parliament of the Czech Republic. The chamber has 200 seats ...

since October 2017, and the chairman of the party since 2016, as well as previously between 2009 and 2014.

Early life

Ivan Bartoš was born on 20 March 1980 in Jablonec nad Nisou, an industrial town in northern

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

. He studied information studies and librarianship at the Faculty of Arts,

Charles University ) , image_name = Carolinum_Logo.svg , image_size = 200px , established = , type = Public, Ancient , budget = 8.9 billion CZK , rector = Milena Králíčková , faculty = 4,057 , administrative_staff = 4,026 , students = 51,438 , undergr ...

in Prague and participated in a

student exchange program A student exchange program is a program in which students from a secondary school (high school) or university study abroad at one of their institution's partner institutions. A student exchange program may involve international travel, but doe ...

at the University of New Orleans. Subsequently, Bartoš worked in the IT industry and was elected chairman of the Pirate Party in October 2009.

Political career

Leader of the Pirate Party

Bartoš led the party into its first national elections in 2010, with the Pirates receiving 0.8% of the vote and therefore no representation in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

. Bartoš was the party's leading candidate again in legislative elections in 2013. The party won 2.66% of the vote, not reaching the 5% electoral threshold. Bartoš was the Pirates' leading candidate for the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union, from 22 to 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties fielded candid ...

, but the party narrowly missed the 5% electoral threshold, receiving 4.78% of the vote. In June 2014, Bartoš resigned as party leader.

In parliament

Bartoš was elected party chairman again in 2016 and led the Pirates into the 2017 legislative elections, taking 10.8% of the national vote to become the third largest party in the Chamber of Deputies, with 22 out of 200 seats. He served as the chairman of the Committee on Public Administration and Regional Development from November 2017 until November 2021. Bartoš was re-elected as party leader in 2018 and led the party's campaign for the 2018 local elections, where the leading Pirate candidate in Prague, Zdeněk Hřib, was elected Mayor of Prague. In 2019, Bartoš campaigned for the European Parliament election in support of the Pirate Party list and lead candidate

Marcel Kolaja Marcel Kolaja (born 29 June 1980 in Moravská Třebová) is a Czech software engineer, Internet freedom and digital rights activist and a Czech Pirate Party politician who serves as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since the 2019 ele ...

. The party gained 13.95% of the vote and entered the European Parliament with three MEPs.

In government

In January 2020, Bartoš was re-elected as party leader. In December 2020, he became the lead candidate of the electoral coalition of the Pirate Party and Mayors and Independents (STAN) for the

2021 Czech legislative election Legislative elections were held in the Czech Republic on 8 and 9 October 2021. All 200 members of the Chamber of Deputies were elected, with the leader of the resulting government to become the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic. Following th ...

and was re-elected. Subsequently, Bartoš was nominated to serve as the

and Deputy Prime Minister for Digitalization in the governing Cabinet of Petr Fiala.

Personal life and views

He is a member of the Czechoslovak Hussite Church, and has been married since 2015. He has supported

anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...

events and is a

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...

. Bartoš participates in "

do it yourself "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and semi ...

" culture, plays

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

, and played church organ during his youth.

References

External links

*
Ivan Bartoš
on Czech Pirate Party website {{DEFAULTSORT:Bartos, Ivan 1980 births 21st-century Czech politicians Czech Pirate Party MPs Living people Hussite people People from Jablonec nad Nisou Charles University alumni Leaders of the Czech Pirate Party Members of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic (2017–2021) Members of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic (2021–2025) Regional Development ministers of the Czech Republic Czech Pirate Party Government Ministers