Czech Senate after the 2026 elections: how the clubs have shifted

The balance of power in the Czech Senate has barely changed after this year's elections: opposition losses are minimal, and the governing parties gained nothing at all. Although some party leaders wanted otherwise, the senators' clubs will stay much as they were.

The big clubs barely move

The strongest club, ODS and TOP 09, will lose one seat: from 30 senators it will have 29. “We remain the strongest club in the upper house, and that is good,” said ODS chairman Martin Kupka at a press briefing. The picture is similar for STAN: the party defended 10 of its 11 seats, yet its club will not shrink, because it will be joined by Marek Ošťádal, a former STAN member who ran this year for his own movement, 24/7. He had announced in advance that if he won, he would continue in the Senate with the Mayors. The Christian Democrats' club stays where it was: they defended three seats and won three.

ANO loses one seat

Of the three governing parties, only ANO took part in the second round, and it slipped slightly even though its leaders had set a goal of growing stronger. This year ANO was defending just one seat, and it did not hold even that. The party will now have 14 senators instead of 15.

The Senate has 81 members, and a third of the seats, or 27 mandates, are renewed every two years. Before this year's elections the largest club was ODS and TOP 09 with 30 senators, followed by STAN with 18 members and ANO with 15. KDU-ČSL and independents had 12 seats, and the SEN 21 club with the Pirates had five. The only unaffiliated senator was Daniela Kovářová.

What happened in the first round

Two STAN candidates won right in the first round: Zbyněk Linhart in the Děčín district and Jan Sobotka in the Trutnov district. Both were defending their seats, so the club's size did not change. Tomáš Fiala also defended his seat in the Strakonice district, but this year he ran for the Naše Česko (Our Czechia) group, although he was originally elected for ODS. It is not yet clear which club he will join, so his success may affect the balance between clubs.

For TOP 09, Jan Grulich won in the Rychnov district in the first round; he was already a senator. The real change came with the success of the current governor of the South Moravian Region, Jan Grolich, who will strengthen the KDU-ČSL and independents club.

Source: seznamzpravy.cz