Postoj ODS k přímé volbě starostů: případová studie.

This article analyses the attitude of the Civic Democratic Party towards the implementation of the direct elections of mayors in the Czech Republic through three separated case studies. The first study focuses on party election manifestos and ideological documents. The second study conducts the statistical analysis of both the parliamentary and the media outputs by party members and representatives. Finally, the third study consists of three in-depth semistructured interviews. The results suggest that the Civic Democratic Party takes a negative attitude towards the direct elections of mayors, that it is monolithic within this attitude, that there are no significant attitudinal differences between ordinary members and party elites, and that this negative attitude was even amplified after the fall of the Petr Nečas's cabinet. The results are critically discussed within the context of the rising popularity of the direct elections in Czech society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]