This is a series of posts that records the cases of cohabitation in countries with semi-presidential constitutions. Cohabitation is defined as the situation where the president and prime minister are from different parties and where the president’s party is not represented in the cabinet. Presidents classed as non-party cannot generate any periods of cohabitation.
Here is my list of cohabitations in the Czech Republic:
March 2013 – July 2013
President – Miloš Zeman (Party of Civic Rights – Zeman’s people, SPOZ); PM – Petr Nečas (Civic Democratic Party, ODS); Coalition – ODS, TOP 09, LIDEM
Zeman is not actually a member of SPOZ, nor has he held a chairmen type of position in the party. That said, he was clearly *not* politically affiliated with the Nečas government, nor with the Sobotka governmentthat took office in January 2014. Indeed, although Zeman used to be the leader of what is now the largest party in the government (ČSSD), he has since broken with that party and Sobotka belongs to the part of CSSD that is most vocal in disavowing Zeman and his legacy. In sum, the period since January 2014 can also be classified as cohabitation (as long as we overlook that Zeman is technically an independent).Zeman did have close links with the caretaker Rusnok government that was in office briefly between Nečas and Sobotka cabinets, but never actually won the confidence of parliament.