At the end of May there was a vote in the parliament of the Czech Republic to introduce the direct election of the president and, hence, semi-presidentialism. The proposal was approved by 103 deputies, but 120 votes in the 200-seat parliament were required for the reform to be passed.

This was not the first attempt at such a reform. According to the Prague Daily Monitor, this time the reform was proposed by the Czech Social Democrats (ČSSD), though all parties have indicated that they are willing to introduce direct elections before the date of the next scheduled presidential election in 2013.

This vote was taken before the June parliamentary election at which the Social Democrats lost seats. However, the Czech News Agency reports that the new three-party coalition of the Civic Democrats (ODS), TOP 09 and the Public Affairs (VV) as well as the opposition Social Democrats are still in favour of the reform, which, apparently, has public support.