Freeholder Party of the Czech Republic

Freeholder Party of
the Czech Republic
Strana soukromníků České republiky
AbbreviationSoukromníci
LeaderPetr Bajer
FoundedMarch 13, 2009 (2009-03-13).
HeadquartersHolice
IdeologyConservatism[1]
Political positionCentre-right
Colours  Yellow
Chamber of Deputies
0 / 200
Senate
0 / 81
European Parliament
0 / 21
Regional councils
2 / 675
Local councils
14 / 62,178
Website
http://www.soukromnici.cz/cs/

Freeholder Party of the Czech Republic (Czech: Strana soukromníků České republiky, Soukromníci) is a centre-right conservative political party in the Czech Republic. The party considers itself to be a successor to Czechoslovak Traders' Party and to be inspired by Party of Entrepreneurs, Small Business Owners, and Farmers of the Czech Republic.[2]

History

Foundation and cooperation with Civic Democrats

On November 21, 2008, the preparatory committee started collecting signatures for creation of a new eurorealist, centre-right political party, which aims to build on the political traditions of the Czechoslovak Traders' Party and Republican Party of Farmers and Peasants.[3] The committee succeeded and as a result the Freeholder Party was founded by Rostislav Senjuk on March 13, 2009, under the name "Freeholder Party of the Czech Republic" (Czech: „Strana soukromníku České republiky“) with abbreviation SsČR.[4] The party described itself as a centre-right conservative party and used as a motto "I have learned that a man has the right and obligation to look down at another man, only when that man needs help to get up from the ground." a quote attributed to Gabriel García Márquez.[5]

The party received 4 544 votes (0.19%) in 2009 European Parliament election and thus won no seat. Following the election, then-prime minister Mirek Topolánek from the Civic Democratic Party reached out to political parties and other groups to the right of center with an offer to cooperate in the 2009 Czech legislative election including the Freeholder Party.[6]

The 2009 legislative election got cancelled by the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic but the cooperation between the Freeholder Party and the Civic Democrats continued. For the 2010 Czech legislative election the leader of the Freeholder Party cooperated with Civic Democratic advisory group called Economic Group of Experts (Czech: Ekonomická skupina odborníků)[7] and in it endorsed the Civic Democratic Party.[8]

Departure from the Civic Democrats

The Freeholder Party took part in 2012 regional elections and received 1 seat in Liberec Region. Another member was elected as candidate of Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party. The party also cooperated with SNK-ED and in no regions ran together with the Civic Democrats. On the 4th congress of the Freeholders Party, members from Ústí nad Labem region criticized then leadership for continued cooperation with the Civic Democrats, they also demanded for the party to broaden its scope and to cooperate with all democratic parties, not only with those on the right. Following the congress, the Freeholders Party announced that the party wants to unite the right to run on one platform in the next Czech legislative election.[8]

In 2013 the Freeholders Party was negotiating with TOP 09 to run on their list. Petr Gazdík from STAN, who were running with TOP 09 at that time said that they also reached out to the Freeholders as well as regional parties to not split votes in the upcoming election.[9] The party was also considering to run again with the Civic Demorats or with ANO 2011 but in the end the party decided to lead their own list.[10]

After talks with major parties failed, the Freeholder Party decided to run on their own list and invited other parties to join them. In South Bohemian Region the list included members of SNK-ED.[11] LIDEM allowed its members to join the Freeholder Party list,[12] one of these being their deputy leader Dagmar Navrátilová.[13] Other parties joining the list was Conservative Party,[14] NOS and Citizens of the Czech Republic.[15] The Freeholder Party received 13 041 votes (0.26%) and no seat in 2013 Czech legislative election.

Following the poor election result, the party leader Rostislav Senjuk stepped down and on December 7, 2013, the party elected Petr Bajer the new leader.[16] On December 22, 2013, the new leadership started talks with newly formed Civic Conservative Party for the 2014 European Parliament elections and municipal elections.[17] The Freeholder Party ran in 2014 European Parliament elections on the list of the Civic Conservative Party. The list received 3 481 votes (0.22%) and no seats.

Cooperation with Ivo Valenta and Party of Free Citizens

On August 5, 2014, multimillionaire Ivo Valenta announced that he is running in 2014 Czech Senate elections in District 81 - Uherské Hradiště just a few hours before the deadline.[18] Following the successful campaign, Valenta became a sponsor of the party and negotiated an agreement between SsČR and Party of Free Citizens to participate in joint list for 2016 regional elections.[19][20][21] The coalition received 2% nationwide but succeeded in Zlín region.[22]

Post 2016 development

On 21 February 2017 Freeholder Party agreed to participate in 2017 Czech legislative election together with Civic Democratic Party.[23] The coalition received 11% of votes and came second but Freeholders didn't receive any seats.[24]

On 16 July 2025 Freeholder Party announced that they will endorse the Motorists for themselves party in the 2025 Czech legislative election, stating that they want to prevent vote splitting and that the parties agree on economic issues and foreign policy.[25] The party had 12 candidates in all total and they ran in all regions with the exceptions of Plzeň region, Ústí nad Labem region and Moravian-Silesian region.[26] The list received 7% of the vote and came sixth but Freeholders didn't receive any seats.

Election results

Chamber of Deputies

Year Leader Vote Vote % Seats +/- Place Notes Position
2013 Rostislav Senjuk 13,041 0.3
0 / 200
 Steady0 16th Freeholder Party list also included LIDEM, KONS, SNK-ED and NOS extra-parliamentary
2017 Petr Fiala (ODS) 572,962 11.3
0 / 200
 Steady0 2nd Part of the ODS list extra-parliamentary
2021 Zuzana Majerová Zahradníková (Tricolour) 148,457 2.8
0 / 200
 Steady0 8th Part of Tricolour–Svobodní–Soukromníci coalition extra-parliamentary
2025 Filip Turek (independent) 380,601 6.77
0 / 200
 Steady0 6th Part of the AUTO list extra-parliamentary

European Parliament

Year Main Candidate Vote Vote % Seats +/- Place Notes
2009 Jiří Pekárek 4,544 0.2
0 / 22
 Steady0 23rd
2014 Pavel Černý 3,481 0.22
0 / 21
 Steady0 22nd Part of the OKS list
2019 Josef Valihrach 8,720 0.36
0 / 21
 Steady0 18th Soukromníci-Nezávislí coalition (endorsed by ODA)
2024 Libor Vondráček 52,408 1.76
0 / 21
 Steady0 10th Part of the Svobodní list together with PRO PLZEŇ and PRO Zdraví

Presidential

Election Candidate First round result Second round result
Votes %Votes Result Votes %Votes Result
2018 Mirek Topolánek 221,689 4.3 6th

References

  1. ↑ "Soukromníci odmítají daňovou progresi. Svobodní by daň z příjmů zcela zrušili". Podnikatel.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  2. ↑ Beránek, Rudolf (10 June 2017). "Program Strany soukromníků České republiky 2017" (PDF). Soukromníci.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ↑ 4ip.cz. "Prohlášení 2008 | SOUKROMNICI". www.soukromnici.cz. Archived from the original on 2010-12-04. Retrieved 2026-04-24.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ↑ "Rejstřík politických stran a hnutí - Ministerstvo vnitra České republiky". aplikace.mv.gov.cz. Retrieved 2026-04-24.
  5. ↑ "Strana soukromníků České republiky". www.soukromnici.cz. Archived from the original on 2009-05-27. Retrieved 2026-04-24.
  6. ↑ "Topolánek mobilizuje proti ČSSD, chce spolupráci nelevicových stran". iDNES.cz. 2009-06-18. Retrieved 2026-04-24.
  7. ↑ "Topolánek ukázal své ESO pro volby. Slíbil záchranu země před bankrotem". iDNES.cz. 2010-02-01. Retrieved 2026-04-25.
  8. 1 2 "ODS je vnímána jako "nefalšovaná mafie", zaznělo na sněmu soukromníků". parlamentnilisty.cz. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  9. ↑ "Nechceme tříštit pravici, ODS je v rozkladu, hájí Gazdík pakt s TOP 09". iDNES.cz. 2013-04-19. Retrieved 2026-04-25.
  10. ↑ "Jsme asi svině a zloději. Je mi zle, nadává předseda strany a naříká na jednání s ODS a Babišem". parlamentnilisty.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 2026-04-25.
  11. ↑ "Herec, radní, učitel, poslanec... Koho pošlete do Sněmovny?". iDNES.cz. 2013-09-20. Retrieved 2026-04-25.
  12. ↑ "LIDEM: Souhlasíme, aby členové individuálně kandidovali za Stranu soukromníků ČR". parlamentnilisty.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 2026-04-25.
  13. ↑ "Odpočinek či návrat za katedru. Nekandidující exposlanci řeší, co dál". iDNES.cz. 2013-10-23. Retrieved 2026-04-25.
  14. ↑ "Konzervativní strana jde do voleb". page-maintitle-short-default. Archived from the original on 2018-06-30. Retrieved 2026-04-25.
  15. ↑ "Programy do voleb". Programy do voleb (in Czech). Retrieved 2026-04-25.
  16. ↑ "SsČR: Novým předsedou strany je Petr Bajer". page-maintitle-short-default. Archived from the original on 2020-07-13. Retrieved 2026-04-25.
  17. ↑ "Bývalý ODSák Janeček vyzývá ke spolupráci pravicových stran | ParlamentniListy.cz – politika ze všech stran". www.parlamentnilisty.cz. Archived from the original on 2014-01-10. Retrieved 2026-04-25.
  18. ↑ "Kandidaturou do senátu jde Valentovi o hazardní byznys, tvrdí kritici". iDNES.cz. 2014-08-06. Retrieved 2026-04-25.
  19. ↑ "Miliardář Valenta, Strana soukromníků a Svobodní jdou spolu do voleb". iDNES.cz. 4 January 2016. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  20. ↑ "Do Senátu se dostal agronom Čuba i právník Láska, Prachař neuspěl". iDNES.cz. 18 October 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  21. ↑ Martínek, Jan (6 January 2016). "Svobodní a Soukromníci podepsali spojenectví do krajských voleb". Novinky.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  22. ↑ "Se vším všudy patřím Česku a tak to bude, říká hazardní král Valenta". m.rozhlas.cz. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  23. ↑ "ODS půjde do sněmovních voleb s podporou Strany soukromníků". Echo24 (in Czech). 21 February 2017. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  24. ↑ "Pyrrhovo vítězství. Sedmdesát procent lidí je ve skutečnosti proti Babišovi, vzkazuje senátor Valenta. Kdo ví, zda se vůbec podaří sestavit vládu..." parlamentnilisty.cz. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
  25. ↑ ČTK (2025-07-16). "Strana soukromníků nebude samostatně kandidovat. Ve volbách podpoří Motoristy". Deník.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 2026-04-24.
  26. ↑ Bajer, Petr (15 September 2025). "Předvolební speciál - Strana soukromníků ČR podpoří v podzimních volbách stranu Motoristé sobě" (PDF). Soukromník. Retrieved 24 April 2026.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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