General Provisions

(1) This act of law addresses the terms of exercise of the right to vote, the organisation of elections and the extent of judicial review.

(2) In general, the elections to the Parliament of the Czech Republic are based on the principles of universal, equal and direct right to vote and secret ballot. The members of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic are elected in compliance with the principle of proportional representation. The members of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic are elected in compliance with the principle of majority system.

(3) The elections to the Parliament of the Czech Republic shall be announced by the President of the republic at least 90 days in advance. A resolution on their announcement shall be published in the Collection of Laws. The day on which the chapter of the Collection of Laws featuring the resolution to announce the elections to the Parliament of the Czech Republic is distributed shall be regarded as the day on which the elections are announced.

(4) The elections to the Parliament of the Czech Republic in the territory of the Czech Republic shall be held in the course of 2 days, on a Friday and on a Saturday. On the first day of the elections, the voting shall start at 2 p.m. and end at 10 p.m. On the second day of the elections, the voting shall start at 8 a.m. and end at 2 p.m.

(5) The elections to the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic abroad shall be held in the course of 2 days,

a) on a Thursday and on a Friday, with the voting starting at 2 p.m. and ending at 9 p.m. of local time, in any place (Article 3, Section 2) where the time lag in comparison with the territory of the Czech Republic exceeds 4 hours, b) on a Friday, with the voting starting at 12 noon and ending at 10 p.m. local time, and on a Saturday, with the voting starting at 8 a.m. and ending at 12 noon local time, in any place (Article 3, Section 2) where the time lag in comparison with the territory of the Czech Republic totals 2 hours at the most, c) on a Friday, with the voting starting at 2 p.m. and ending at 10 p.m. local time, and on a Saturday, with the voting starting at 8 a.m. and ending at 2 p.m. local time, in any other place (Article 3, Section 2).

(6) Unless specified otherwise by this act of law, the date of the elections is understood to mean the first day of the elections in the territory of the Czech Republic. The time limits and the determination of election days pursuant to this act of law are in no way affected by the aforementioned voting times abroad.

(7) Any citizen of the Czech Republic (hereinafter only the “citizen”) at least 18 years old on the second day of the elections at the latest is classified as a voter. In the second round of the elections to the Senate every citizen at least 18 years old on the second day of that round may vote.