The Civic Democratic Alliance (Czech: Občanská demokratická aliance, ODA) is a small, almost defunct liberal party in the Czech Republic, currently led by Jiřina Nováková. It has one senator.

History

ODA was established in 1991 by a group of intellectuals as a conservative-liberal party, based on ideas often expressed in The Salisbury Review. The other motive was personal antipathy to Václav Klaus and his party ODS. Initially ODA was able to gain the support of cca 6% of voters, obtain seats in parliament and be part of government.

After its initial success ODA suffered from corruption scandals and the incompetence of its leaders. Not being able to keep the support of voters, it was steadily losing influence and members (even those with a seat in parliament).

Today the party has tiny support from the electorate (well below 1%) and is burdened with huge debt. Attempts to merge with another party or parties to form a strong liberal group have thus far failed (as of 2004).

See also

• Liberalism
• Contributions to liberal theory
• Liberalism worldwide
• List of liberal parties
• Liberal democracy

External links

• Official web site
• Short history in narrative form (in Czech)