The Czech republic has had a democracy for a little more than a decade. Under Communism, there was no political freedom and only one party ruled. This created many difficulties in the transition away from Communism (in 1989 when ). There had to be both an economic transition and a democratic transition at the same time. In the short time since this transition began, there have been many political parties have formed and much has changed. .
There has been a reemergence of political parties on the right, which was not an option under Communism. Czech citizens with non-Communist political views were not able to express their views in public. The political parties were created after a short time and were formed from the coalitions that were responsible for bringing down Communism.
In Czechoslovakia during the period between the First and Second World Wars there was also a democracy. During the interwar period there was a multiparty political system. There were five major parties at the national level, known as the Petka. These parties were the Social Democrats, the Socialists, the national Democrats, the Czechoslovak Populist Party and the Agrarians. The Communists received some votes, as did some of the far right parties. The Communist party was the choice of most of the people who did not believe in a liberal democracy. The politics of the extreme right were associated with the German minority that was expelled following World War Two. .
After the fall of Communism many political parties and groups were formed. In order for a party to seat people in the parliament under the Czech political system, the party needs at least 5% of the vote. This caused many political parties to be ruled out as viable almost immediately. The early dominant political forces in the Czechoslovakia included the movements that brought down Communism. These groups were large and non-partisan. The two groups that made the biggest impact in the post-Communist government were the Civic Forum and Public Against Violence.