The Senate of the Czech Republic

The Senate was established in 1996. 81 senators are elected with a six-year term of office according to the principles of the majority election system. The elections take place every two years, when one third of the Senators are newly elected. Every citizen of the Czech Republic, who is entitled to vote and is at least 40 years old, can be elected to the Senate.

The Senate is conceived as a counterweight to the House of Parliament, as an element establishing conditions for a better quality legislative process and as an element of parliamentary continuity in the event that the House of Parliament is dissolved.

Responsibilities include:

Discusses and approves drafts of bills, which it receives from the House of Parliament

Proposes bills

Expresses its (dis)agreement with international treaties

Expresses its (dis)agreement with declarations of war, with residence of foreign armies in the Czech Republic or with the dispatch of armed forces outside the Czech Republic

Elects the President of the Republic at a joint meeting of both chambers

Expresses its consent to the appointment of Constitutional Court judges

Only the Senate may file an action with the Constitutional Court against the President of the Republic for treason

Submits proposals for the conferral or award of state distinctions

The Senate is not authorised to make any decisions regarding the Czech Republic budget