From Paris to Prague: what lessons for socialists?

The historically low score of Česká strana sociálně demokratická (hereafter ČSSD), the Czech social-democratic party, in the recent general elections, was welcomed with shock not only in the Czech Republic, but also abroad: how can a government presiding over one of the EU’s most prosperous economies be treated so defiantly in the polls? With a mere 7,27% of votes and 15 MPs, ČSSD has lost, since the last elections in 2013, more than 13% of votes (approximately 648 000 voters), 35MPs and about 4.6M€ of financing. This electoral debacle is comparable in proportion of the loss suffered by the French Socialist Party (hereafter PS), and the future of both parties is now equally in jeopardy, up to the necessity of selling real estate holdings and restructuring the party’s organization and human resources.