Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Interaction Between Government and Parliamentary Opposition in the Czech Republic

The COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on parliamentary activities have recently become a trending topic. The pandemic presented both challenges and opportunities for governments and parliaments. During times of crisis, government-parliament and government-opposition relations can result in contrasting expectations and outcomes with regard to democratic norms. While consensus on crisis measures between governments and opposition parties can increase public trust and legitimacy, criticism by the opposition is essential as a catalyst for fuelling public discourse. During a crisis, government-opposition relations can range from consensus-seeking to strictly adversarial. The paper1 aims to empirically analyse the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on relations between the government coalition of the Czech Republic and its polarised parliamentary opposition. Parliamentary elections coincided with the pandemic, and the minority government was replaced by a surplus majority coalition formed by the opposition parties from the previous legislature. The paper will examine whether the opposition adopted a differentiated strategy in its discussions regarding pandemic-related legislative proposals and to what extent it was able to act unanimously despite its polarization.