Public Affairs ( cs, Věci veřejné, VV, nicknamed ''véčkaři'') was a conservative-liberal

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. Its main platform was transparency and opposition to

political corruption Political corruption is the use of powers by government officials or their network contacts for illegitimate private gain. Forms of corruption vary, but can include bribery, lobbying, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage, in ...

. It had 24 seats in the 2010–2013

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 ...

. The party was led by

anti-establishment An anti-establishment view or belief is one which stands in opposition to the conventional social, political, and economic principles of a society. The term was first used in the modern sense in 1958, by the British magazine ''New Statesman'' ...

investigative journalist Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...

and writer

Radek John Radek John (; born 6 December 1954) is a Czech journalist, writer, screenwriter and politician who served as the Minister of Interior from 2010 to 2011 and as Leader of the Public Affairs party from 2009 to 2013. His novel '' Memento'' is the f ...

, and later by Jiří Kohout. Besides opposing corruption, the party was

fiscally conservative Fiscal conservatism is a political and economic philosophy regarding fiscal policy and fiscal responsibility with an ideological basis in capitalism, individualism, limited government, and ''laissez-faire'' economics.M. O. Dickerson et al., '' ...

. It had a number of

right-wing populist Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right-wing nationalism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics and populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti- elitist sentiments, opposition to the Establ ...

policies. The party was supportive of

direct democracy Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the Election#Electorate, electorate decides on policy initiatives without legislator, elected representatives as proxies. This differs from the majority of currently establishe ...

– the members of the party could change the course of the party by Internet referendums – and was pro-European Union.

Early years

Founded in 2001, the party focused on local politics in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

, particularly Prague 1, for most of its existence. In June 2009, Radek John was recruited as its chairman, and it emerged in late 2009 as a contender in the 2010 election, polling above the 5% threshold to win seats, and occasionally above

KDU-ČSL KDU-ČSL (In Czech, the initials of the Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party; cs, Křesťanská a demokratická unie – Československá strana lidová), often shortened to ('the populars') is a Christian-democrati ...

and the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

. John competed with

Karel Schwarzenberg Prince Karel of Schwarzenberg (, born 10 December 1937) is a Czech politician, former leader of the TOP 09 party and was its candidate for president of the Czech Republic in the 2013 election. He served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies ( ...

for the title of the country's most popular politician. In the election, VV received 10.9% of the vote, easily surpassing the 5% threshold, and won 24 seats. The party entered into a governing coalition with the country's two other centre-right parties: the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) and

TOP 09 TOP 09 (name derived from cs, Tradice Odpovědnost Prosperita, lit=Tradition Responsibility Prosperity) is a liberal-conservative political party in the Czech Republic, led by Markéta Pekarová Adamová. TOP 09 holds 14 seats in the Chamber ...

Party breakdown

In April 2011,

Vít Bárta Vít Bárta (born 5 December 1973) is a Czech politician and businessman who served as Minister of Transport from 2010 to 2011 and as Member of the Chamber of Deputies (MP) from 2010 to 2013. Bárta also led political party Věci veřejné dur ...

, Czech Minister of Transport, was accused of bribery by his party colleagues, deputies Jaroslav Škárka, Stanislav Huml, and Kristýna Kočí, who were subsequently expelled from the party. The incident caused serious problems in the Czech government coalition. A lawsuit involving several members and deputies of the party began to be debated in court on 5 March 2012. Vít Bárta was accused by the State Prosecution of bribery and Jaroslav Škárka of receiving a bribe. After Nečas's government collapsed, some members of Public Affairs split to form another party, LIDEM, hoping to continue their coalition with ODS and TOP 09, with Miroslava Němcová as Prime Minister. However, President

Miloš Zeman Miloš Zeman (; born 28 September 1944) is a Czech politician serving as the third and current President of the Czech Republic since 2013. He previously served as the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic from 1998 to 2002. As leader of the Czec ...

refused and instead appointed Jiří Rusnok a caretaker Prime Minister. When this cabinet failed to win a confidence vote in the Chamber, the opposition called for dissolution of the Chamber and early elections. The remaining Public Affairs deputies voted in favour, and the motion of dissolution was passed with 143 out of 200 votes. On 3 September 2013, Bárta announced that Public Affairs would not be standing in the October 2013 legislative election, leading to a split in the party's leadership. Some party members were later elected as candidates of

Dawn of Direct Democracy Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's horizon ...

. In August 2015, the party announced its dissolution, with chairman Jiří Kohout stating that the party no longer had enough money to operate.

Election results

Chamber of Deputies

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Public Affairs (Political Party) Liberal conservative parties in the Czech Republic Political parties established in 2001 Direct democracy parties in the Czech Republic 2001 establishments in the Czech Republic Conservative liberal parties Populism in the Czech Republic Anti-corruption parties in the Czech Republic Right-wing parties in the Czech Republic Defunct political parties in the Czech Republic Political parties disestablished in 2015 2015 disestablishments in the Czech Republic