Petr Fiala

Petr Fiala (born 1 September 1964) is a Czech politician, political scientist and university professor who has been Leader of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) since 2014. He has served as Member of the Chamber of Deputies since 2013. From 2012 to 2013 Fiala was Minister of Education, Youth and Sports in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Petr Nečas and Rector of Masaryk University in Brno.

Born in Brno, Fiala attended the Faculty of Arts of Masaryk University and then he worked as a historian. In 1996, he became docent at the Charles University in Prague and in 2002, he was named as a first professor of political science in the Czech Republic. In 2004, he became dean at the Faculty of social studies and in the same year was elected as Rector of Masaryk University where he stayed until 2011.

In September 2011, he served as a chief aide for science to Prime Minister Petr Nečas and on May 2, 2012 he was appointed as Minister of Education, Youth and Sports in Nečas' government, remaining in that post until the resignation of Prime Minister Nečas in 2013.

In the October 2013 legislative election, Fiala was elected as an independent to the Chamber of Deputies. The Civic Democratic Party (ODS) was defeated in the election, and Fiala joined the party in November 2013. In 2014, Fiala announced his candidacy for the leadership of the ODS and on January 18, 2014, he was elected as the fourth Leader of ODS. He was re-elected as party leader in 2016.

Fiala led ODS to the 2017 legislative election. The party received 11% of the vote and became the second strongest party in the Czech Republic. Fiala then refused to negotiate about the party's participation in the next government.