Neither Realigning nor Maintaining Election: Czech Party System and the 2025 General Election

Since the 2010 critical election, the Czech party system has undergone a significant transformation. Given that the party system stability is a core variable for contemporary comparative politics research, the proposed case study aims to explore the results of the 2025 general election within the framework of the recent dynamics of Czech party politics. To this end, the single-country case study focuses on both the electoral and parliamentary arena, and employs a multi-component conceptualisation of party system dynamics, encompassing well-established indicators such as party system continuity, effective number of parties, party system volatility, and electoral polarisation, but also in terms of the party system format and its change. The study concludes that, notwithstanding the results of the 2025 general election, which suggests signs of continuity rather than discontinuity in the trajectories of Czech party politics, the election cannot be considered either a realigning, or a maintaining contest.