Senate election, 20 September 2024

Storms, September 2024 

From 13 September 2024, Storm Boris brought heavy rainfall to Central Europe for four days, , causing particular damage to Austria and along the Polish-Czech border. Across multiple countries, almost two million people were affected. The Czech city of Jeseník saw rain exceeding 500 mm, a new flood record. The severe rain led to more than 200 rivers overflowing, causing destruction to homes and infrastructure. Trains between Czechia, Austria, and Slovakia were suspended. 250,000 people were left without electricity, and about 10,000 were displaced. As of 19 September, there were five fatalities and several people reported missing (IFRC 2024; WWA 2024).  

The intensity and duration of the heavy rainfall put immense pressure on civil protection. In today’s climate, which is 1.3°C warmer than at the beginning of the industrial period, a rainfall event of this magnitude is a very rare event expected to occur about once every 100 to 300 years. Czech regions highly vulnerable to flooding include Ostrava, Opava, Krnov, Jeseník and Litovel. Europe-wide, the damage was estimated to be several billion Euros( WWA 2024).  

Impact on the electoral process  

Floods disrupted the Senate and regional elections held a week into the crisis, on 20 September 2024. In the hardest hit towns, buildings designated as polling stations were damaged and flooded. Some voting took place in tents, out in the open, and in shipping containers. Many local authorities prioritized recovery from the floods over organizing the election, leading to officials from the Interior Ministry taking over and organizing the vote (AP 2024). 

The election took place in two rounds. Voter turnout in the first round was 30.82 per cent; in the second it was only 17.5 per cent (Ferenčík 2024). This was a decrease on the latest senate election in 2022 which had a turnout of 42 per cent in the first round and 19.44 per cent in the second round (Volby n.d.; IFES 2023).