Pre-electoral Alliances in the Czech Parliamentary Elections of 2025: Patterns, Motivations and Electoral Effects
No.3(2026)
Electoral alliances1 have become a significant feature of recent parliamentary elections and of the broader development of Czech politics. Political parties increasingly use pre-electoral cooperation as a response to growing fragmentation of voter preferences and as a strategy to overcome institutional constraints of the electoral system, particularly the electoral threshold. This study analyses open and hidden pre-electoral alliances competing in the 2025 elections to the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic and examines their effects on parliamentary representation. Methodologically, it combines qualitative analysis of alliance agreements and candidate lists with quantitative evaluation of electoral results. The analysis focuses on three dimensions: (a) a typology of alliances based on their electoral effects (sub-additive, additive, and super-additive); (b) the structural characteristics of alliances and the motivations of political actors to cooperate prior to elections; and (c) the success of candidates from individual political parties within joint candidate lists. The study contributes to understanding pre-electoral alliance behaviour in a fragmented party system.
pre-electoral alliances; electoral coalitions; party system fragmentation; electoral strategies; parliamentary representation; Czech parliamentary elections
Tomáš Jarmara
CEVRO Univerzita
Department of Political Science and International Affairs
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Copyright © 2026 Ladislav Mrklas; Tomáš Jarmara