The Czech National Council was the legislative body of the Czech Republic during the period of the common state with Slovakia. On 21 June 1991 it passed the act that established the Police of the Czech Republic.[1]
After the dissolution of Czechoslovakia at the end of 1992 it was succeeded by the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, which also exercised the powers of the Senate until the first Senate elections in 1996.[2] The Chamber is the lower house of the Parliament of the Czech Republic and deputies must be older than twenty-one. [2] The Chamber of Deputies has 200 members, elected for four years by proportional representation. [2] It sits in the palaces of Malá Strana in Prague, and its centre is the Thun Palace on Sněmovní Street. [2] The complex of the Chamber also includes the Smiřický Palace, the Sternberg Palace and a number of surrounding houses. [2]
Deputies are assigned to committees and commissions and may form clubs, the founding of which requires at least ten deputies. [2]
The Chamber of Deputies may be dissolved only by the President of the Republic in cases defined by the constitution, and no later than three months before the end of the electoral term. [2]
For a law to pass, the Chamber needs the votes of an absolute majority of all deputies, even when the Senate returns or rejects the law or the president vetoes it. [2]
The state budget act is debated only by the Chamber of Deputies, and only it can express confidence or no confidence in the government. [2]