Czechia
Czechia has run an equivalent of Student Elections since 2010, under the name Studentské volby. It is organized by the NGO ÄŒlovÄ›k v tÃsni (People in Need) through its education program Jeden svÄ›t na Å¡kolách (One World at Schools, JSNS). High-school students aged 15 and up cast a secret ballot on the real parties and candidates a few weeks ahead of the actual election, following the same procedure as a real polling place.
How it started
The first edition ran April 26-28, 2010, at 134 secondary schools, about three weeks before the real Chamber of Deputies election. Since then it has accompanied nearly every nationwide Czech election: regional and presidential elections in 2012, an early parliamentary election in 2013, European Parliament elections in 2014, 2019 and 2024, regional elections in 2016, parliamentary and presidential elections in 2017, a presidential run-off and Prague municipal election in 2018, both rounds of the 2023 presidential election, and the 2025 parliamentary election. No edition is planned for 2026.
How it works
At participating schools, students form their own election commission (typically three students from the senior class), set up a sealed ballot box and a voting screen for secrecy, and vote for the real parties, movements, coalitions or candidates actually registered for that election. Voting takes place roughly two to three weeks before the real election day, not simultaneously with it. Schools submit results through a secure web portal to the polling agency Kantar, which compiles the national totals, published broken down by school type (gymnázium, secondary vocational school, vocational training center).
Scale
In the 2025 parliamentary election, 637 schools submitted results on time (271 gymnázia, 285 secondary vocational schools, 81 vocational training centers), with 90,820 valid votes cast — more than half of all Czech secondary schools. In the 2024 European Parliament election, 265 schools took part with 22,880 valid votes. In the 2023 presidential election, 504 schools submitted round-1 results with 76,136 valid votes, and a record 530 schools had registered by round 2.