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“The Czech Republic is a parliamentary representative democratic republic headed by a president, who is elected (since 2013) by a two-round popular vote for a five-year term, with a limit of two consecutive terms. The president is the formal head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The constitution vests the president with certain specific powers, including those to appoint and dissolve the government; to veto bills (with the exception of constitutional acts) and thus return them to the Parliament; to appoint judges to the Supreme and Constitutional Courts, as well as members to the board of the Czech National Bank; to grant amnesty (subject to government approval); and to dissolve the Chamber of Deputies under exceptional circumstances. The president’s role as commander-in-chief of the armed forces is ceremonial, as all substantive authority regarding the use of the military is vested by the constitution in the Parliament. The president at the time of writing is Miloš Zeman, ex-party chairman of the Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) and a former prime minister (1998–2002) of the Czech Republic.”

Source: Alexa J, Rečka L, Votápková J, van Ginneken E, Spranger A, Wittenbecher F. Czech Republic: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2015; 17(1):1–165.

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“The Czech constitution provides for a bicameral Parliament that is responsible for final decision-making to approve new legislation. The 200 members of the Chamber of Deputies (Poslanecká sněmovna) are elected for four-year terms, while the 81 members of the Senate (Senát) are elected for six-year terms. As the head of government, the prime minister is the government’s chief representative and is responsible, among other duties, for organizing the activities of government and choosing government ministers. The government proposes new legislation for the health sector to the Parliament, usually through the minister of health.”

Source: Alexa J, Rečka L, Votápková J, van Ginneken E, Spranger A, Wittenbecher F. Czech Republic: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2015; 17(1):1–165.

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“Each region has its own parliament (known as an assembly), government (known as a council) and governor (or, in the case of Prague, a mayor). The assemblies are elected for four years, based on a system of proportional representation. In 2003 ownership of approximately half of the hospitals and some of the other health-care facilities that had previously been owned by the state was transferred to the regional authorities. At a later date some of them were transformed to joint stock companies with regional governments as sole owners (see section 2.4).

“The Czech Republic has been a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) since December 1995, of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) since February 1999 and of the EU since May 2004. It also closely cooperates with other central European post-communist countries – namely Poland, Slovakia and Hungary – in the Visegrád group, which was established in 1991.

“Accession to the EU on 1 May 2004 has perhaps been the most important historical and political development for the Czech Republic since the late 1990s. The process leading up to this event had been a driver for political and economic change since at least 1997, when the European Commission agreed to talks regarding the country’s accession and outlined rules for its entry into the EU. The Czech legal system, in particular, was modernized to ensure full compliance with the acquis communautaire, the body of common rights and obligations that binds all the Member States within the EU.”

Source: Alexa J, Rečka L, Votápková J, van Ginneken E, Spranger A, Wittenbecher F. Czech Republic: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2015; 17(1):1–165.

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World Health Systems Facts is a project of the Real Reporting Foundation. We provide reliable statistics and other data from authoritative sources regarding health systems in the US and sixteen other nations.

Page last updated July 28, 2023 by Doug McVay, Editor.