Referendum in the Czech Republic on joining the European Union

EU expansion to the east in 2004: the Czech Republic other candidate countries European Union




On June 13 and 14, 2003, a referendum was held in the Czech Republic on joining the European Union . In the referendum, voters had to decide whether they would approve the country's accession to the European Union , which was scheduled for January 1, 2004 . As a result, those in favor of joining the EU won with 77.33% with a turnout of 55.21%.

background

Overall, it was the seventh referendum that was held in a member state of the European Union on the question of the accession of a country and one of a total of 9 referendums before the EU enlargement in 2004 . A week earlier, Poland's voters had approved their country's accession to the European Union in a similar referendum . Almost all political parties in the Czech Republic supported the country's accession to the EU. The conservative Democratic Citizens' Party ( Občanská Demokratieická strana ) officially spoke out in favor of membership, but did not actively participate in the voting campaign. On February 28, 2003, shortly before the referendum, Václav Klaus , an avowed Eurosceptic, was elected President of the Czech Republic. The Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia , which was opposed to accession, was ambivalent and divided on the question of accession. The Republican Party (SPR-RSČ) on the right-wing spectrum also refused to join the EU.

Results

In the referendum, eligible voters in the Czech Republic should vote on whether or not they want to join the European Union - as proposed in the Accession Act. The referendum brought the following result:

There was a clear majority for those in favor of membership in all of the Czech Republic's electoral districts

Nationwide results

choice	be right	percent
Yes	3,446,758	77.3
No	1,010,448	22.7
Invalid votes	100,754	-
total	4,560,399	100
Registered voters / turnout	8,259,525	55.21

The following table shows the results by region in the Czech Republic . EU accession was approved by a large majority in all regions.

Results by region

region	Yes (percent)	No (percent)	Voter turnout (percent)	Invalid votes (percent)
Prague	80.16	19.84	57.75	1.17
Central Bohemian Region	75.38	24.62	57.70	1.25
South Bohemian Region	76.17	23.83	55.62	1.06
Pilsen region	76.90	23.10	55.99	1.13
Karlovy Vary Region	76.54	23.46	51.15	1.12
Aussiger region	75.65	24.35	50.00	1.15
Reichenberg region	73.82	26.18	56.42	1.25
Karlovy Vary Region	76.20	23.80	59.37	1.32
Pardubice region	76.09	23.91	57.69	1.28
Highlands region	75.99	24.01	57.25	1.15
South Moravian Region	78.31	21.69	55.57	1.21
Olomouc region	77.03	22.97	54.44	1.28
Zlin region	80.47	19.53	56.24	1.41
Moravian-Silesian Region	79.08	20.92	49.54	1.27
Czech Republic as a whole	77.33	22.67	55.18	1.22

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ústavní zákon o referendu o přistoupení České republiky k Evropské unii (Constitutional Act on the Referendum on the Accession of the Czech Republic to the European Union), Act 515/2002 Coll., Online at: zakony-online.cz / ...
2. ^ Direct Democracy
3. ↑ European Election Database: EU related referendums. Norsk samfunnsvitenskapelig datatjeneste AS, Bergen (Norway), accessed on October 26, 2013 (English).