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Czechoslovakia Republic and Lower Administrative Levels
The administrative units of Czechoslovakia's two republics
are, in each instance, a unicameral legislative body called the
national council, an executive branch known as the government,
and a judiciary consisting of a supreme court and an office of
the prosecutor. Like its corresponding federal government unit,
the Federal Assembly, the national council is described as the
highest organ of state power in the republic, whereas the
government is the "supreme executive authority." The 1968
constitutional amendments that created the two republican or,
"national," governmental units initiated a truly federal system
of government, which flourished briefly. Since that time,
revisions of and deviations from the 1968 amendments have made
the two national governments clearly subordinate to the federal
governmental structure in Prague. This is apparent both in
legislation, such as a 1971 law that authorized the federal
government to interfere with and invalidate republican government
initiatives, and in the interlocking responsibilities of certain
officials within the two levels of government. For example, the
premier of each republic is a deputy premier in the federal
government, and the chairman of each national council is a member
of the Presidium of the Federal Assembly.
Because of the numerical superiority of the Czech population,
the Czech National Council has 200 representatives and the Slovak
National Council only 150. Except for the difference in the
number of deputies, the provisions of the federal Constitution
apply equally to the national councils of each republic: deputies
are elected to five-year terms of office; the national councils
must hold at least two sessions annually; and each national
council elects its own presidium (fifteen to twenty-one members
in the Slovak National Council and up to twenty-five members in
the Czech National Council), which is empowered to act when the
full national council is not in session.
In each of the two republics the executive branch consists of
a premier, three deputy premiers, and a number of ministers. Both
the Czech and the Slovak governments have ministers of
agriculture and food, construction, culture, development and
technology, education, finance, forestry and water resources,
health, industry, interior, justice, labor and social affairs,
and trade. The chairmen of the State Planning Commission and the
People's Control Commission also hold ministerial status in each
republic; the government of the Czech Socialist Republic
includes, in addition, two ministers without portfolio.
Below the level of the republics (the national
administrations), Czechoslovakia is divided into 10 kraje,
114 districts, and several thousand municipal and local units.
The principal organs of government at these levels, known as
national committees, function in accordance with the principle of
democratic centralism. The 1968 Constitutional Law of Federation
specifies that the national governments direct and control the
activities of all national committees within their respective
territories.
The system of national committees was established at the
close of World War II by the then-existing provisional government
and was used by the communists as a means of consolidating and
extending their control. On the local level, the membership of
the national committees consists of from fifteen to twenty-five
persons. National committees on the higher levels are
proportionately larger: national committees at the district level
have from 60 to 120 members, and national committees at the
kraje level have between 80 and 150 members. National
committee members are popularly elected for five-year terms of
office. Each national committee elects a council from among its
membership. The council, composed of a chairman, one or more
deputy chairmen, a secretary, and an unspecified number of
members, acts as the coordinating and controlling body of the
national committee. To expedite the work of the national
committee, the council establishes commissions and other
subcommittees and can issue decrees and ordinances within its
area of jurisdiction.
The national committees on the local level are assigned
particular areas of jurisdiction, including maintaining public
order and organizing the implementation of the political,
economic, and cultural tasks assigned by the KSC and the federal
government. The Constitution charges the national committees with
the responsibility of organizing and directing the economic,
cultural, health, and social services in their areas. The
committees must also "ensure the protection of socialist
ownership" and see that the "rules of socialist conduct are
upheld."
Data as of August 1987
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