Nečas’s two decades in politics crowned by three years as head of government

Petr Nečas, who is 48, had been prime minister for three years. A physics graduate, he first entered Parliament on the Civic Democrats’ ticket in 1992. He was appointed to his first cabinet post, as minister for labour, in 2006. He was elected chairman of the Civic Democrats in June 2010, the same month he became prime minister. Regarded as personally untainted by scandal, he vowed to clean up the reputation of his party but later met some opposition from within. The main achievements of his government were a church restitution bill and reform of the pension system.