The Czech government has begun active work on a long-promised nationwide referendum law, launching a working group under the Ministry of Justice to prepare a draft constitutional bill.
The initiative was pledged before the elections by both the hard-right Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) party and the populist ANO movement. The working group will operate under Justice Minister Jeroným Tejc, with one representative from each coalition party.
According to the ministry, the draft legislative work plan sets December 2026 as the latest possible deadline for submission, but officials say the goal is to present the proposal significantly earlier, potentially within this year.
However, the law will not include the option of voting on withdrawal from the European Union or NATO. SPD leader Tomio Okamura confirmed that while his party supports including such provisions, coalition partners oppose it.
“I submitted it to the Chamber of Deputies in the last election period. Now there will be a discussion about the parameters so that we can find a coalition agreement,” Okamura told Echo24. He added that the proposal will be based on the government’s program statement, “so unfortunately without the EU and NATO, because the coalition partners do not want it, only the SPD wants it.”
Okamura said that votes on other international issues should remain possible, including matters such as rejecting the adoption of the euro or opposing the EU migration pact.
Justice Ministry spokeswoman Marcela Nevšímalová said the working group’s first task will be to formulate a substantive framework defining the basic parameters of the constitutional law. This includes determining who would be authorized to initiate a referendum and which topics would be excluded.
“The group will start working as soon as representatives of the coalition parties are nominated,” Nevšímalová said, adding that although December 2026 is the outer deadline, “the goal is to submit the draft much earlier.”
Debate is already emerging over how many signatures would be required to trigger a nationwide vote. Former Justice Minister Helena Válková previously floated a threshold of 500,000 signatures. Former constitutional commission head Kateřina Valachová suggested a possible compromise between 350,000 and 500,000.
Libor Vondráček, head of the Standing Committee on the Constitution, argues that such figures are too high and says the system should be inspired by Switzerland to ensure referendums are realistically attainable. He cited neighboring Slovakia, where a 350,000-signature threshold has rarely led to successful votes.
Vondráček confirmed that the SPD parliamentary cohort will not attempt to reintroduce EU and NATO withdrawal provisions, acknowledging that this would contradict the government’s program statement. He said he hopes the first concrete outputs from the working group could emerge by the end of the current semester.
The proposal must secure a constitutional majority of 120 out of 200 lawmakers in the Chamber of Deputies. The governing coalition holds 108 seats and may need support from opposition parties such as the Pirates or STAN. Civic Democrats have signaled reluctance, with ODS deputies indicating they are unlikely to back the referendum law.
If passed by the lower chamber, the bill would then require approval by at least 49 senators in the upper house, where ANO currently holds 15 seats but is seeking gains in upcoming elections.
Coalition partner Motorists has also taken a cautious stance. Renata Vesecká, chair of the Constitutional and Legal Committee, said the issue has not yet been discussed in concrete form, but reiterated that withdrawal from the EU or NATO will not be included.
