Social Democrats win most votes but centre-right triumphs in election

Social Democrats gain most votes but centre and centre-right parties get majority of seats in lower house. The final elections results gave the left of centre Social Democrats most votes with 22.08 percent followed by the Civic Democrats on 20.22 percent, according to the Czech Statistical Office. The recently created TOP 09 party was third with 16.7 percent followed by the Communists with 11.27 percent and the Public Affairs party with 10.88 percent. The Christian Democrats and the party of former Social Democrat prime minister Miloš Zeman were both just under the 5.0 percent threshold to entry to the lower house with around 4.5 percent. The turnout was 62.6 percent.

These figures translate into 56 seats in the 200-seat lower house for the Social Democrats. The Civic Democrats would gain 53 seats, TOP 09 41 seats, the Communists 26 seats and Public Affairs 24 seats. The Social Democrats won most votes in most regions of the country apart from the Liberec, Hradec Králové, Southern Bohemia and Central Czech regions won by the Civic Democrats. TOP 09 was the most popular party in the former Civic Democrat bastion, Prague, with around 27 percent of support.