Koruna česká

History

Political movement

Koruna Česká is one of the oldest active political parties in the Czech Republic founded after the end of the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia. Its precursor was a monarchist civic initiative, "Czech Children", founded in 1988 by Petr Placák as a dissident group against the communist regime. They published a samizdat magazine called Koruna.

Koruna Česká as a political movement was founded on 25 November 1990 in Prague's Švanda Theatre, officially naming itself Czech Crown (Royalist Movement of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia). Dalibor Stejskal was elected as its first leader. On 14 December 1991 the first General Assembly of Koruna Česká convened. In 1993 KČ formed a political partnership with the Christian Democratic Party of Václav Benda and in the following years they closely cooperated, until the latter merged with the Civic Democratic Party in 1996.

The second leader of KČ (1997–1999) was Dalibor Pták (politician) and the third (1999–2003) was Milan Schelinger, a musician and brother of famous Czech rock singer Jiří Schelinger. In 2003 KČ was transformed from a political movement into a political party.

Political party

In May 2003 Schelinger resigned as the leader of the party and in November 2003 Václav Srb, who had been the party's hejtman of Bohemia, was elected as the new leader. Since 2004 the party has actively contested in every election. In the 2006 Czech municipal elections they gained their first local councillors and mayors.

While in the early years, the official position of KČ was that they have no authority to decide who would be the new Czech king, in 2007 KČ clarified its monarchist position as legitimism (actively supporting the claim of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine as descendants of Charles I of Austria, the last King of Bohemia).

In 2011 KČ suffered an internal crisis when a "conservative platform" was formed, critical of the policy of the party and striving to shift its political position more in a national conservative direction. The conservative platform tried to take over the party, but it was defeated during the XX General Assembly in November 2011. Many of its members then left the party and founded a conservative monarchist association called MONOS.

In the 2013 Czech presidential election, the first direct presidential election in the country, KČ boycotted the election, as it was contrary to its goal of unelected head of state. At the same time, an independent monarchist candidate, sculptor Emil Adamec announced his candidacy, but he failed to gather enough signatures of citizens to become a candidate. Some members of KČ supported him, while others urged the party to support the candidacy of Karel Schwarzenberg as an aristocrat and a personal friend of the royal house. KČ remained neutral, but issued a statement that if monarchists want to participate, then Schwarzenberg is the best choice. Some KČ members also created mock ballots for Karl von Habsburg as an heir to the throne, which garnered some media attention.

In the 2013 legislative election KČ competed in 11 of 14 regions. They were locally successful in Hlinná in Ústí nad Labem Region, where they got 16% of the vote.

In the 2014 Senate election a coalition candidate of KČ and ODS -- Lumír Aschenbrenner -- was successful in Plzeň. In the XXIII General Assembly on 29 November 2014 Petr Nohel defeated Petr Krátký (politician) with 72% of the vote to become the new leader of the party.

Presidum

Koruna Česká's Presidium, resulting from the party's XXXth General Assembly held on 1 April 2023 in Kroměříž:

President – Vojtěch Círus

Vice President – Luboš Samuel Erbandorf

Secretary General – Kateřina Boušková

Party Provincial Governors:

Czech Party Provincial Governor – Luboš Samuel Erbandorf

Moravian Party Provincial Governor – Pavel Andrš (politician)

Silesian Party Provincial Governor – Romana Hegrová

Other Presidium members: Jiří Čížek (politician), Matěj Čadil, Jindřich Holub, Jan Konrád, Miroslav Pošvář

Party Presidents

Honorary members of the Koruna Česká

Since 2015, at its general assemblies, Koruna Česká has granted honorary membership to prominent public figures who are related to the party in thought and have contributed significantly to the promotion of its ideas. Honorary membership in the Koruna Česká was awarded to the following personalities:

2015: Milan Buben, Jan Royt, Jaroslav Maxmilián Kašparů

2016: Jiří Rak, Jan Drocár

2017: Hugo Mensdorff-Pouilly, Jan Vrabec

2022: Zdeněk Prázdný – he renounced it in March 2024

2024: Charles A. Coulombe, Alexander Tomský, Jan Ziegler

In addition to honorary members, there is also the honorary position of honorary chairman, held by former chairman Václav Srb.

Election results

Elected representatives

Mayors and municipal councillors

Representatives who have been nominated by or are members of the Koruna Česká are counted.

Pavel Ondrůj (municipal councillor of Olbramkostel)

Jindřich Holub (mayor of Pohleď)

Jaroslav Vavříček (municipal councillor Jakartovice)

Jaroslav Kolbek (municipal councillor Pletený Újezd)

Daniela Krausová (representative of the municipality Pchery)

Michal Pulchart (municipal councillor Pchery)

Dagmar Wittbergerová (representative of the Praha-Dolní Počernice district)

Nathaniel Filip de Aras (municipal councillor Opatovice nad Labem)

Jindřich Holub (Mayor of Pohleď)

Jan Konrád (municipal councillor Okrouhlá)

Vladislav Pečinka (councillor of Horní Benešov)

Senators

Lumír Aschenbrenner (coalition candidate ODS and Monarchiste.cz)

Jitka Chalánková (independent candidate endorsed by KONS and Monarchiste.cz)

Lumír Aschenbrenner (coalition candidate of ODS, TOP 09, KDU-ČSL, ADS and Monarchiste.cz)

Zdeněk Hraba (koaliční kandidát ODS, KONS, Svobodní a Koruna Česká)

Stanislav Balík (nezávislý kandidát podpořený ODS, KDU-ČSL, KONS a Koruna Česká)