List of Presidents of Czechoslovakia (Fall Grün)

This a list of Presidents of Czechoslovakia from its declaration of independence on October 28, 1918 to its conquest by the German Reich (Nazi Germany) and the Kingdom of Hungary in March 1939.

The President according to the Czechoslovak Constitution

The president was elected by both chambers of parliament in joint session (acting in accordance with the standing orders of the lower chamber). The presidential term of office was of 7 years, with a term limit of 2 terms (the first president was exempted from this provision). Candidates for the presidency had to be at least 35 years old.

Although the constitutional powers of the presidency were limited, the personal prestige of the first president, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, and the weakness of successive governments meant that the president wielded in practice more authority than the plain text of the constitution suggested. The constitution laid down that all executive functions rested with the government except as expressly assigned to the president. However, as the president could address written or verbal messages to parliament, appoint and dismiss ministers, attend and preside over cabinet meetings, and demand written reports from individual ministers, presidential influence on the executive was in practice considerable.

The president concluded and ratified international treaties, saving that treaties imposing personal or military burdens upon the subject or involving territorial changes required parliamentary consent. The president could return to parliament, with accompanying observations, any law. Whereupon, parliament could by majority vote re-affirm the law to bypass the president. If there was no majority in the senate, then the lower chamber could pass the law unilaterally by a subsequent vote by means of a three-fifths majority, bypassing the upper chamber and the president. The president was commander-in-chief, and appointed all high-ranking officers, university professors, judges and senior civil servants.

In periods when the post of the President of the Czechoslovak Republic was vacant, some presidential duties were carried out by the Prime Minister. However, the Czechoslovak Constitution did not define anything like a post of acting president.

List of Presidents of Czechoslovakia

  Non-partisan

   Czechoslovak National Socialist Party (Československá strana národně socialistická)

   Party of National Unity (Strana národní jednoty)

#	Portrait		Name	Assumed office	Left office	Political Party
Republic of Czechoslovakia (October 28, 1918 - October 3, 1938)
1			Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk	14 November 1918	14 December 1935	Non-partisan
2			Edvard Beneš	December 18, 1935	October 3, 1938	Czechoslovak National Socialist Party
Republic of National Unity (October 3, 1938 - March 15, 1939)
2			Edvard Beneš	October 3, 1938	October 17, 1938	Czechoslovak National Socialist Party
3			Rudolf Beran	October 20, 1938	March 15, 1939	Party of National Unity

See also

• Czechoslovakia (Fall Grün)
  • List of Presidents of Czechoslovakia (Fall Grün)
  • List of Prime Ministers of Czechoslovakia (Fall Grün)