1990 Czech Social Democratic Party leadership election

A leadership election was held within the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) on 25 March 1990. It was the first leadership election since the party's re-establishment and saw Jiří Horák defeat Rudolf Battěk.[1] Battěk was supported by exiled politicians from the party,[2] and wanted ČSSD to run in the 1990 parliamentary elections as part of the Civic Forum list, while Horák wanted it the party to run independently.[3]

1990 ČSSD leadership election

25 March 1990

Nominee Jiří Horák Rudolf Battěk Electoral vote 223 150 Percentage 59.8% 40.2%

Elected Leader of ČSSD Jiří Horák

Results

Candidate	Vote	%
Jiří Horák	223	59.79
Rudolf Battěk	150	40.21

Aftermath

Although Horák won, Battěk's wing of the party participated in 1990 elections on the Civic Forum list and won some seats. The ČSSD received only 4% of the vote and failed to cross the electoral threshold. Horák blamed Battěk's wing for the failure and Battěk and his supporters were expelled from the party.[4]

References

1. "Deník Referendum". denikreferendum.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 6 March 2017.
2. ČSSD. "Obnovení československé sociální demokracie po listopadu 1989". CSSD.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 6 March 2017.
3. "neviditelnypes.lidovky.cz/politika-ctyri-pady-ceske-socialni-demokracie-foh-/p_politika.aspx?c=A060606_200049_p_politika_wag". Lidovky.cz. 7 June 2006. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
4. Kopeček, Lubomír. "Česká strana sociálně demokratická - jak se dostat k moci" (PDF). Politologický Časopis. Retrieved 23 January 2017.