lidovec.

This term is used to refer to members of the Czech People’s Party (Česka strana lidová) - today also known as the Christian Democratic Union - a political party with roots in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Its voting base has always been with the country’s religious Catholics – mostly concentrated in rural areas and particularly in south Moravia – and the party has traditionally tried to represent their conservative values. General irreligiosity means that the People’s Party is condemned to receive a maximum of only 10% of the vote in general elections. But thanks to its charismatic leader during the First Republic, Jan Sramek, the party has taken as its ethos a willingness to participate in government at all costs, even sacrificing its programmatic commitments. It is this ethos which allowed the party to survive the communist regime and even join most post-communist cabinets, though typically without much effect on policy. Members of the party address each other as brother and sister.