Czech voters today evicted the communists from parliament for the first time since the end of the second World War, voting out a party whose forebears had ruled the central European nation from 1948 until the Velvet Revolution of 1989 that ushered in democracy.

The communists jailed tens of thousands in forced labour camps in the 1950s and brutally repressed dissidents such as playwright-turned-president Vaclav Havel, but remained in parliament following the revolution in the then Czechoslovakia.

In this week’s election, the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia took 3.62 per cent of the votes with nearly all precincts reporting, less than the 5 per cent needed to enter parliament. This potentially marks a final chapter for a party that has gradually shrunk as its ageing membership has dwindled.

Surprise result Voters also handed a defeat to prime minister Andrej Babis’s ANO party, giving their backing to centre-right opposition group Together in a surprise result.

After 1989, the communists sought to appeal to senior citizens and working class Czechs, but they never resonated with younger voters and failed to shake off the party’s history as totalitarian rulers who had stifled freedom.

“I am very disappointed because it is a really big failure,” said Communist Party leader Vojtech Filip, who also resigned.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/communists-booted-from-czech-parliament-for-first-time-since-1948-1.4696368