2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 1
The day's breakaway was initiated at the front of the day's opening climb, the Côte de Morgins, with the initial move being made by Team Europcar rider David Veilleux. Veilleux was later joined by Euskaltel–Euskadi's Ricardo García, Argos–Shimano rider Thomas Damuseau and Jean-Marc Bideau of Bretagne–Séché Environnement, and the quartet built up a maximum lead on the road of around ten minutes. Behind them, Tony Martin (Omega Pharma–Quick-Step) set off in pursuit of the four leaders, but was not able to reach the lead group at any point.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 1
Veilleux attacked on the Col du Corbier, and managed to break away by 40 seconds from García and Damuseau – Bideau had been dropped earlier on the climb – in 2 km (1.2 mi) to the top of the climb. Veilleux remained well clear into the closing stages, and eventually came across the line to take the biggest win of his career – his first win at World Tour level – by almost two minutes. In doing so, Veilleux claimed the race lead in the general, points and mountains classifications. The remaining members of the breakaway were caught, and this allowed Martin's team-mate Gianni Meersman to take second, ahead of Blanco Pro Cycling's Tom-Jelte Slagter, who was the best-placed young rider.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 2
Although categorised as a flat stage by the race organisers, the second half of the 191 km (118.7 mi) parcours was set to test whether the sprinters could with remain with the peloton all the way to the finish in Oyonnax. Five of the day's six categorised climbs came in a 60 km (37.3 mi) portion of the route, with the last of these – the second-category Col du Sentier – coming with just 11.5 km (7.1 mi) remaining of the stage.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 2
The Col du Sentier was the day's steepest climb, with an average gradient of 7.6%, and was one of two second-category ascents, along with the 5.6 km (3.5 mi)-long Côte de Communal (6.3%) around 30 km (18.6 mi) prior. The descent into Oyonnax was fast, before a gradual rise to the finish.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 2
Four separate riders attempted to make solo breakaways early in the stage, but it was not until the 22 km (13.7 mi) point that a group was able to separate from the peloton. For the second day running, Argos–Shimano rider Thomas Damuseau was in the breakaway, with the main aim of taking the mountains classification lead away from overall leader David Veilleux of Team Europcar. Joining Damuseau in the group initially were Bretagne–Séché Environnement's Arnaud Gérard and Cofidis rider Rudy Molard, while a fourth rider, José Mendes (NetApp–Endura), was able to bridge up to the group from the peloton. With three-quarters of the group being within two minutes of Veilleux after the opening stage, the peloton were unwilling to give the group too much distance on the road, and the gap peaked at no more than five minutes, just after halfway.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 2
Veilleux's team maintained the pace in the peloton, pulling the group back as Damuseau led the leaders over the top of the first four climbs, but the quartet held a lead of less than a minute at the foot of the Côte du Bugnon. Molard attacked his companions, and pulled the advantage out to just over a minute, while the others were brought back by the peloton, now being led by Omega Pharma–Quick-Step. Molard's resistance lasted until the bottom of the final climb, the Col du Sentier, when the peloton sped by.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 2
His team-mate Rein Taaramäe attacked on the climb itself, remaining clear to around 2.5 km (1.6 mi) from the finish of the stage. Cannondale had led the chase, and also led the field into the final kilometre for their sprinter Elia Viviani, and after navigating the hairpin bend with 600 metres (2,000 ft) left, Viviani was the strongest in the sprint and took his first win of 2013 ahead of Omega Pharma–Quick-Step's Gianni Meersman, who finished second for the second day running. Veilleux finished within the peloton to maintain his race lead by 1' 56" over Meersman.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 3
The third stage of the race was split into two distinctive sections; the first portion of the 167 km (103.8 mi)-long stage from the start town of Ambérieu-en-Bugey was predominantly flat as the race headed towards the feeding zone in the commune of Lancié. From there, the route moved uphill towards the first of the day's two categorised climbs. The Col des Echarmeaux was a long, but rolling climb of 3% over 10.5 km (6.5 mi), with a steady descent towards the intermediate sprint point, coming 25 km (15.5 mi) before the finish, in the commune of Cublize.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 3
The route descended a little further, before the Col des Sauvages, a third-category climb at an average gradient over 4 km (2.5 mi) of 5.5%. The summit of the climb came 10 km (6.2 mi) before the finish into Tarare; the finish was technical, with two tight left-hand turns in the final kilometre.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 3
Four riders broke clear of the main field almost immediately after the race rolled out of Ambérieu-en-Bugey, with Fumiyuki Beppu (Orica–GreenEDGE) being joined in the breakaway by Garmin–Sharp rider Jacob Rathe, Sander Cordeel of Lotto–Belisol and Vacansoleil–DCM's Juan Antonio Flecha. The quartet pulled clear to a maximum advantage of around seven minutes early in the stage. This was steadily brought down by the team-mates of the race leader David Veilleux (Team Europcar) and the Omega Pharma–Quick-Step team for their sprinter Gianni Meersman.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 3
FDJ also aided with the chase for Nacer Bouhanni, and the peloton was within a minute of the leaders at the intermediate sprint in Cublize. Cordeel was the last member of the group to be caught, just as he commenced the Col des Sauvages. After several solo attacks were pulled back by Omega Pharma–Quick-Step, it set up the final sprint in Tarare. With a lead-out from team-mate Geraint Thomas, Edvald Boasson Hagen finished strongest to take the stage win – the third Dauphiné win of his career – ahead of Orica–GreenEDGE's Michael Matthews and Meersman.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 4
The race's only individual time trial of an extensive length was held as an out-and-back loop around Villars-les-Dombes in the Ain department. The parcours of the 32.5 km (20.2 mi)-long stage was almost entirely flat. The stage finished at the Parc des Oiseaux, one of the largest ornithological parks in Europe. Race organisers had expected the quickest times for the course to be around forty minutes. Several of the general classification leaders regarded the time trial as a test for an individual time trial of similar length due to be held in July, at the Tour de France.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 4
As is customary in time trial stages, cyclists set off in reverse order from where they were ranked in the general classification at the end of the previous stage. Thus, Larry Warbasse of the BMC Racing Team, who was in 172nd place of the 176 starters, trailing overall leader David Veilleux by thirty-five minutes and fourteen seconds, was the first rider to set off on the stage.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 4
Warbasse recorded a time of 42' 43" for the course, but his stay at the top was almost immediately beaten by Orica–GreenEDGE's Mitchell Docker. Docker had started two minutes behind Warbasse – riders had started the stage at one-minute intervals – and nearly caught him towards the end, having already passed his team-mate Yannick Eijssen on the course.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 4
NetApp–Endura rider Alexander Wetterhall was the next rider to record the fastest time, setting a benchmark of 40' 19"; Jack Bauer was the first rider to break the expected fastest time, recording a sub-40 minute time for the parcours, as the Garmin–Sharp rider went top with 39' 33". Eloy Teruel went five seconds quicker than Bauer for the Movistar Team to assume top spot for a short time, before Czech national champion Jan Bárta, a team-mate of Wetterhall at NetApp–Endura, completed the course over a minute quicker in a time of 38' 30".


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 4
Teruel's team-mate Jonathan Castroviejo almost recorded the first time below 38 minutes, falling a couple of seconds shy with a time of 38' 02 ", but was still almost half a minute clear of the best time to that point, set by Bárta. His time was to be beaten by only three riders, the first of which was the eventual stage-winning time recorded by the world champion Tony Martin, riding for the Omega Pharma–Quick-Step team.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 4
Martin was comfortably quickest at each of the two intermediate time-checks along the route, and crossed the line over a minute clear of Castroviejo; he had recorded a time of 36' 54". Martin's winning time allowed him to claim his sixth individual time trial victory of 2013.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 4
Garmin–Sharp rider Rohan Dennis recorded the second-fastest time for the course at 37' 41", and by doing so, became the new leader of the Dauphiné by five seconds, from Team Sky's Chris Froome – the best of the general classification contenders, and one of four Team Sky riders in the top six – as Veilleux lost more than three minutes on the course.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 5
The fifth stage was the first to be categorised as a mountain stage, with a summit finish at the ski resort of Valmorel, just outside Les Avanchers. After an opening loop around the start town of Grésy-sur-Aix, the Côte de Trévignin was the first of four categorised climbs on the day's route. The climb of 4.4 km (2.7 mi) averaged 6.6% over the ascent, and from there the race progressed to the Massif des Bauges.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 5
After a period of undulating terrain, the short, sharp fourth-category Col du Frêne was next on the route, at 6% over just under 2 km (1.2 mi) of climbing. After the descent down to Saint-Pierre-d'Albigny, the 139 km (86.4 mi) parcours headed towards Valmorel via Albertville, the intermediate sprint point at La Bâthie and the fourth-category Côte de la Croix. The final climb, an hors catégorie ascent, averaged 7% over 12.7 km (7.9 mi), which was somewhat ameliorated by several hairpin bends towards the finish, which provided any attacking rider with a perfect kick towards the finish.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 5
An attack-laden opening to the stage allowed a breakaway of fifteen riders to be formed after around 20 km (12.4 mi) of racing, with mountains classification leader Thomas Damuseau being among the group, to maintain his lead in those standings; the best-placed general classification rider among the group was Francesco Gavazzi (Astana), who trailed overnight leader Rohan Dennis of Garmin–Sharp by just under three-and-a-half minutes. The lead gap went over five minutes at one point during the stage, but was around half that as the leaders approached the final climb of the day. Tim Wellens (Lotto–Belisol) and Orica–GreenEDGE's Daniel Teklehaymanot set the pace at the foot of the climb, before Wellens attacked on his own. RadioShack–Leopard's Matthew Busche was able to bridge back up to Wellens, before dropping him.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 5
Behind, Team Sky were leading the main group up the Montée de Valmorel, with the pace dislodging numerous riders. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) attempted to chase down Busche, but was brought back with less than 3 km (1.9 mi) remaining.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 5
After losing time in the previous day's time trial, Alberto Contador of Saxo–Tinkoff attacked the group, but was chased down by Team Sky's Chris Froome; Froome and Contador were able to catch Busche in the closing stages, with Froome kicking on to take the stage victory and the race leader's yellow and blue jersey, as Dennis had been dropped in the final 2 km (1.2 mi) of the stage. Dennis ultimately fell to third in the general classification, as Froome's team-mate Richie Porte was also able to move ahead by two seconds, but he maintained his lead in the young rider classification.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 6
The sixth stage was relatively short at 143 km (88.9 mi) long. After a near-flat opening 50 km (31.1 mi), which included the day's intermediate sprint at Albertville, the race moved towards the hills, with four categorised climbs within a 40 km (24.9 mi) period. The first was the shallowest of the quartet, with the fourth-category Côte d'Arvillard averaging 5.3% over 2.2 km (1.4 mi), before the first-category Col du Barioz − a narrow climb averaging 7.3% over 7.1 km (4.4 mi). After a speedy descent, the riders climbed once again, with the second-category Col des Ayes averaging over 8%. Another short, sharp climb of the Col des Mouilles finished the categorised climbing for the day.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 6
After points classification leader Gianni Meersman extended his lead at the intermediate sprint for Omega Pharma–Quick-Step, the stage's breakaway took over an hour to form on the road. A three-rider move built up an advantage of over two minutes, after which Team Europcar took up station on the front of the peloton to get a rider clear. The rider in question was Thomas Voeckler, who managed to catch the original breakaway, and passed them on the road. Voeckler was later joined by seven other riders as they were ascending the Col du Barioz. The best placed rider of the octet was FDJ rider Alexandre Geniez, who trailed the overnight leader of the general classification, Chris Froome (Team Sky), by 3' 41"; despite this, Froome's squad kept the gap in check, with the difference not going over three minutes.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 6
BMC Racing Team also helped with the chase of the leaders, and managed to halve the gap by the time the race reached the 30 km (18.6 mi) to go point. The lead group then splintered, as the Movistar Team's José Herrada attacked on his own. The Astana pairing of Egor Silin and Kevin Seeldraeyers were next to follow Herrada, with Voeckler and Geniez eventually rejoining, and Tim Wellens (Lotto–Belisol), Mikel Nieve of Euskaltel–Euskadi and Vacansoleil–DCM's Thomas De Gendt losing contact.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 6
Geniez later dropped back, which allowed for a slight lull in the chase, allowing the leaders to increase the gap from just over a minute to a minute-and-a-half. The gap remained at around a minute as the race entered Grenoble, which enabled the breakaway to battle it out for the honours. After several half-hearted moves, Voeckler was the only rider to launch a sizable move; he ultimately won the stage, ahead of Herrada, Seeldraeyers and Silin. Team Sky sprinter Edvald Boasson Hagen won the bunch sprint, 46 seconds later, as team-mate Froome kept the race lead.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 7
The queen stage of the 2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, the penultimate stage steadily rose out of the start town in Le Pont-de-Claix towards the first of the day's five categorised climbs. The first test, a climb to Alpe d'Huez, was seen as a dress rehearsal for the Tour de France, to be held in July, with the 12 km (7.5 mi), 8.6% average hors catégorie climb featuring twice on that race's eighteenth stage. From there, it was a short descent to the second climb, the second-category Col de Sarenne, which averaged almost 7% over 3 km (1.9 mi) of climbing.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 7
An immediate long descent followed, before the first-category Col d'Ornon, which averaged 6.1% over its 10.5 km (6.5 mi) duration. The riders enjoyed a respite from the climbs for around an hour across the Valbonnais, passing through the intermediate sprint at Corps. The final portion of the 187.5 km (116.5 mi) parcours saw the riders climb the Col du Noyer, with portions at 11%, before a descent and a 4 km (2.5 mi), 5.7% kick up to the finish at SuperDévoluy.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 7
A group of twenty-two riders (from seventeen teams) formed the day's breakaway, and were around three minutes clear by the time they reached the foot of the climb to Alpe d'Huez. The gap rose to around four minutes by the summit of the climb – led over the top by Vacansoleil–DCM's Thomas De Gendt – which allowed Kevin Seeldraeyers (Astana) to become the virtual leader of the general classification. The breakaway began to splinter on the Col d'Ornon, as the advantage over the main field continued to rise, to over five minutes.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 7
Alexey Lutsenko led over the climb for Astana, ahead of the mountains classification leader Thomas Damuseau of Argos–Shimano and Seeldraeyers. Omega Pharma–Quick-Step's Sylvain Chavanel and Cannondale rider Alessandro De Marchi moved clear ahead of the Col du Noyer, and managed to pull around a minute-and-a-half clear of the rest of the breakaway by the foot of the climb.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 7
De Marchi dropped Chavanel on the climb, but by this time, the lead group had moved within a minute of catching him; they eventually did so with around 14 km (8.7 mi) left to cover on the stage. Saxo–Tinkoff and Team Sky were prominent at the front of the leading group, setting the pace high enough to reduce the group to around a dozen riders. Euskaltel–Euskadi rider Samuel Sánchez attacked near the top of the climb, with another Astana rider, Jakob Fuglsang.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 7
The two riders worked well together and managed to build a gap of about twenty seconds prior to the final climb, remaining clear until the finish. Sánchez out-sprinted Fuglsang at the end for his first win of the year; a win he later dedicated to his former team-mate Víctor Cabedo, who had died in a training accident in September 2012. Richie Porte finished third for Team Sky, having been aided by his team-mate and overall leader, Chris Froome.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 8
The final stage of the 2013 Critérium du Dauphiné was a categorised medium-mountain stage 155.5 km (96.6 mi) in length. Having rolled out of the start town of Sisteron, the parcours headed towards Gigors via some rolling terrain, and after a descent, set up for the first of three categorised climbs: the Côte de la Bréole, averaging around 5% for its 5.4 km (3.4 mi) length. Having passed through the feed zone at Le Lauzet-Ubaye, the road steadily rose towards the foot of the second climb, the first-category Col de Vars.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 8
A climb of irregular gradient, it averaged 6.9% for 10.4 km (6.5 mi) of climbing, albeit with a short downhill section in the middle. From the summit, the route descended towards Guillestre and ultimately, the start of the final climb to Risoul, a steady almost-14 km (8.7 mi) climb, maxing at around 9%, but averaging 6.7% for its duration. The climb had previously featured in the 2010 edition of the race, where Nicolas Vogondy soloed to victory.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 8
For the second day running, a large breakaway group formed for the primary break of the day. A total of 24 riders, including members of 17 of the race's 22 teams, were part of the group at its largest. The group included mountains classification leader Thomas Damuseau (Argos–Shimano), who set about securing an unassailable advantage in the standings. He led over the top of the Côte de la Bréole, as the peloton allowed them an advantage of around three-and-a-half minutes.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 8
Points classification leader Gianni Meersman of Omega Pharma–Quick-Step was also among the group, and he took maximum points at the intermediate sprint at Jausiers to extend his advantage, but not enough to mathematically secure the jersey. On the Col de Vars, Lotto–Belisol rider Tim Wellens and Cannondale's Alessandro De Marchi attacked, and were later joined by Travis Meyer of Orica–GreenEDGE; Meyer was able to distance his companions for a period, before De Marchi, Wellens, BMC Racing Team rider Manuel Quinziato and Team Katusha's Alberto Losada were able to rejoin him.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 8
This quintet held an advantage of approaching three minutes, as they headed towards the final climb in the treacherous conditions that had been prominent throughout the stage. Wellens attacked at the foot of the climb, and managed to acquire a gap over around 30 seconds halfway up, but had been tiring quickly. This fatigue allowed De Marchi to rejoin him, and ultimately pass him on the road.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 8
Team Sky, leading the peloton in protection of the overall leader Chris Froome, were setting a fast pace in the group, and the pace forced Michael Rogers (Saxo–Tinkoff) to be distanced, putting his third place overall under threat. Froome and team-mate Richie Porte soon gained ground off the front of the peloton, further securing the duo's one-two finish in the overall standings. They set off in chase of De Marchi, but he ultimately prevailed for his first professional victory, finishing 24 seconds clear of the nearest rider.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 8
Froome finished second, ahead of Garmin–Sharp's Andrew Talansky, who caught Froome and passed Porte in the closing metres; Froome thus secured the overall lead, missed out on the points title by two points to Meersman Rogers faded to sixth overall, which handed Daniel Moreno (Team Katusha) the final place on the podium.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Classification leadership
In the 2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, four different jerseys were awarded. For the general classification, calculated by adding each cyclist's finishing times on each stage, the leader received a yellow jersey with a blue bar. This classification was considered the most important of the 2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, and the winner of the classification was considered the winner of the race.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Classification leadership
Additionally, there was a points classification, which awarded a green jersey. In the points classification, cyclists got points for finishing in the top 10 in a stage. For all stages, the win earned 15 points, second place earned 12 points, third 10, fourth 8, fifth 6, and one point fewer per place down to a single point for 10th. Points towards the classification could also be achieved at each of the intermediate sprints; these points were given to the top three riders through the line with 5 points for first, 3 for second, and 1 point for third.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Classification leadership
There was also a mountains classification, the leadership of which was marked by a red and white polka-dot jersey. In the mountains classification, points were won by reaching the top of a climb before other cyclists. Each climb was categorised as either hors, first, second, third, or fourth-category, with more points available for the higher-categorised climbs.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Classification leadership
Hors catégorie climbs awarded the most points, with 20 points on offer for the first rider across the summit; the first ten riders were able to accrue points towards the mountains classification, compared with the first eight on first-category passes and the first six riders on second-category climbs. Fewer points were on offer for the smaller hills, marked as third-category or fourth-category.


2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, Classification leadership
The fourth jersey represented the young rider classification, marked by a white jersey. This was decided the same way as the general classification, but only riders born after 1 January 1988 were eligible to be ranked in the classification. There was also a classification for teams, in which the times of the best three cyclists per team on each stage were added together; the leading team at the end of the race was the team with the lowest total time.


2013 Croatia Rally
The 2013 Croatia Rally, formally the 40. Croatia Rally, was the tenth round of the 2013 European Rally Championship season.


2013 Croatian Football Cup Final
The 2013 Croatian Cup Final was a two-legged affair played between Hajduk Split and Lokomotiva. The first leg was played in Split on 8 May 2013, while the second leg on 22 May 2013 in Zagreb.


2013 Croatian Football Cup Final
Hajduk Split won the trophy with an aggregate result of 5–4.


2013 Croatian Football Cup Final, First leg
Assistant referees:Dalibor Conjar (Osijek)Hrvoje Barišić (Osijek)Fourth official:Tihomir Pejin (Donji Miholjac)Additional assistant referees:Domagoj Ljubičić (Osijek)Danijel Trampus (Osijek)


2013 Croatian Football Cup Final, Second leg
Assistant referees:Tomislav Petrović (Valpovo)Miro Grgić (Osijek)Fourth official:Mario Zebec (Cestica)Additional assistant referees:Damir Batinić (Osijek)Zlatko Šimčić (Koprivnica)


2013 Croatian Football Super Cup
The 2013 Croatian Football Super Cup was the tenth edition of the Croatian Football Super Cup, a football match contested by the winners of the previous season's Croatian First League and Croatian Football Cup competitions. The match was played on 6 July 2013 at Stadion Maksimir between 2012–13 Croatian First League winners Dinamo Zagreb and 2012–13 Croatian Football Cup winners Hajduk Split.


2013 Croatian Football Super Cup, Match details
Assistant referees:Borut Križarić (Čakovec)Siniša Premužaj (Varaždin)Fourth official:Tihomir Pejin (Donji Miholjac)


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum
A constitutional referendum was held in Croatia on 1 December 2013. The proposed amendment to the constitution would define marriage as being a union between a man and a woman, which would create a constitutional prohibition against same-sex marriage. 37.9% of eligible voters voted. After processing all of the ballots, the State Election Commission announced that 65.87% voted yes, 33.51% no and 0.57% of ballots were disregarded as invalid.


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum
The referendum was called after a conservative organization U ime obitelji (“On Behalf of the Family”) gathered more than 700,000 signatures in May 2013 demanding a referendum on the subject. The initiative was supported by conservative political parties, the Catholic Church as well as by several other faith groups. The ruling left-wing coalition opposed the amendment along with numerous human rights organizations.


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum, Political background
A petition in favor of the change was organized by a Catholic citizens' group 'On Behalf of the Family' (U ime obitelji) and collected over 700,000 signatures by May 2013. The initiative was a reaction to the government's proposal to legalize same-sex partnership. The referendum was approved following a vote in the Sabor on 8 November in which 104 of the 151 MPs voted in favor of holding a referendum.


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum, Political background
The group Citizens Voting Against was formed from 88 civil society organizations (led GONG, Center for Peace Studies and Zagreb Pride), supported by numerous public persons, film actors and actresses, academics, activists and politicians, including media such as Novi list and Jutarnji list and musicians, such as Severina, Dubioza kolektiv, Let 3, Hladno pivo, TBF and others.


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum, Political background
The Vote Against campaign claimed that the public faces of the initiative Željka Markić, Krešimir Planinić, Krešimir Miletić, Ladislav Ilčić, as well as members of their families, were simultaneously leaders of the referendum effort and candidates of the right wing political party HRAST. The Vote Against and the broader coalition of civil society organizations, Platform 112, claimed that the bank account listed on 'On behalf of the Family' web site does not belong to the initiative but an ad hoc registered association Građani odlučuju ("The citizens decide") which was founded by the Vice-president of HRAST Krešimir Miletić.


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum, Political background
Željka Markić was furthermore criticized by opponents for allegedly being a member of the controversial Catholic organization Opus Dei.


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum, Political background, Constitutionality of the referendum question
"Are you in favor of the constitution of the Republic of Croatia being amended with a provision stating that marriage is matrimony between a woman and a man?"


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum, Political background, Constitutionality of the referendum question
After the initiative gathered enough signatures to hold a referendum, it was widely speculated that the referendum would still not be held. The political willingness in the Sabor to call a referendum was uncertain given that a left-wing coalition which opposed the proposed amendment held a majority of the seats.


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum, Political background, Constitutionality of the referendum question
However, in a session held on 8 November, the Sabor voted to call a national referendum, with 104 votes in favour, 13 against and five abstentions. A former Prime Minister and an independent MP Jadranka Kosor proposed that the request for the review of constitutionality of the referendum be submitted to the Constitutional Court. However, the two largest parties, the  HDZ and SDP, did not embrace the proposal and it was rejected by 75 votes against and 39 in favour. The only political party of the ruling coalition that supported the constitutional review was the HNS.


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum, Political background, Constitutionality of the referendum question
After a two-day session, on 14 November the Constitutional Court of Croatia announced that there is no reason to over-rule the parliamentary vote on the referendum. The judges emphasized that the constitutionality of the referendum itself was not considered, because they believed that the Sabor had expressed its legal willingness to deem the referendum question compliant with the Constitution. However, they further emphasized that any possible amendment to the Constitution that defined marriage as a union of man and woman could not affect further development of the legal framework of the institution of extramarital and same-sex unions. The Constitutional Court did not rule on the constitutionality of the referendum because it was not officially requested to do so by the Croatian Parliament.


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum, Political background, Constitutionality of the referendum question
The judges were divided in opinion on whether the Constitutional Court should review the constitutionality of the referendum. Several of them pointed out that the Constitutional Court must give a statement on what the constitutional definition of marriage means for the position of LGBT minorities in Croatia. Others explained that the Constitutional Court did not need to respond to citizen proposals, because only the Sabor had the right to request a review of the constitutionality of the referendum question, but which it has refused to do when making the decision to call a referendum.


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum, Campaign
The Prime Minister Zoran Milanović told HRT that he would vote against the proposal. President Ivo Josipović called the referendum unnecessary, without practical political consequences regardless of the outcome, and a waste of taxpayer money. The president furthermore commented that marriage has already been defined in Croatian law as a union of man and woman, but that the referendum question has a strong psychological effect with an underlying discriminatory message.


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum, Campaign
If successful, this will only strengthen the message that we are not willing to accept diversity, that we want to stop throughout the democratic world a clear process of equalization of rights of all people, regardless of their different personal characteristics, in particular their sexual orientation


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum, Campaign
Tomislav Karamarko, leader of the conservative Croatian Democratic Union said he would vote in favor. Four other parties in the Parliament also supported the referendum; in total 104 of 151 members of the Croatian Parliament supported it.


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum, Campaign
Jutarnji list, one of the country's two largest newspapers, announced it would openly endorse the campaign against the amendment. A similar statement was later made by Novi list.


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum, Campaign
The Croatian Bishops' Conference called for Croatian Catholics to vote in favour of the constitutional amendment. Representatives from the Croatian Bishops' Conference, the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Macedonian Orthodox Church, the Reformed Christian (Calvinist) Church, the Baptist Union of Croatia, the Evangelical Pentecostal Church, the Bet Israel Jewish Community and the Mesihat of Croatia issued a joint statement in support of the referendum on 12 November. However, the Croatian Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Jewish Community of Zagreb opposed the proposed amendment. The Rabbinical Center of Europe has written a statement in support of the referendum and the civil initiative 'On behalf of the family', saying they were "very  disturbed  at  reports  that  some  have  compared  this pro-marriage  initiative  with  the  Nazi  regime  and  the  ideology  of fascism".


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum, Campaign
Cardinal Josip Bozanić encouraged support for the amendment in a letter that was read in churches where he singled out heterosexual marriage as being the only kind of union that is capable of biologically producing children.


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum, Campaign
If marriage is a union between a woman and a man, then it is not the same as other types of unions. The Church does not promote any kind of discrimination when it backs that definition of marriage. On the contrary, we can say that the danger exists today of marriage itself being discriminated against, by presenting it as something that it cannot be. The Church wants to preserve marriage and wants the definition of it be clearly spelled out, so that the institution of marriage and the institution of family are preserved for future generations.


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum, Campaign
The Church is therefore not against anyone, it is open for dialogue with everyone, but wants to make it clear that some things can not be made equal. We respect everyone's opinions, but we want the institution of marriage and family, which is imperiled by societal developments today, to be guarded for the future of the Croatian people and a good in all of us.


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum, Campaign
Bozanić repeatedly called the issue of marriage naming a serious issue for country's future and reiterated the viewpoint that it is not Church's intent to discriminate against anybody, but only to "preserve what we already have". He remarked that the referendum was an opportunity for Christians to practically manifest their fate by voting yes, by respecting God's intent and serving the Truth. He echoed his previous statements that marriage and family are not a private affair of the individual which they can shape as they see fit, but are of wider social significance and must not be experimented upon.


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum, Campaign, Media portrayal
The initiative and their goals were generally unfavorably reported by the mainstream Croatian media.


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum, Campaign, Media portrayal
On the day of the referendum the initiative decided to forbid access to their headquarters to the journalists belonging to a group of selected media whom the initiative accused of bias, unprofessionalism and plagiarism. Among these were the Croatian Radiotelevision, the public broadcasting company, the most visited Croatian Internet portals Index.hr, Net.hr and T-portal, as well as all of the publications by Europapress Holding and Novi list. The initiative required of all of the journalists to submit their cell phone numbers, their home addresses, e-mail addresses as well as the name and e-mail address of their editors. This was strongly denounced by the Croatian Journalists' Association who invited all of the media to boycott the coverage of initiative on the referendum day, and emphasized the potential for the abuse of private information.


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum, Campaign, Media portrayal
In the last few weeks we have seen a number of anonymous vulgar letters sent to respected journalists in which they are being insulted and threatened by unknown persons, and obvious semi-fascists, simply because of their position on the issue. We believe that this kind of discrimination of journalists announced by the initiative "On behalf of the family" is hitherto unprecedented in Croatia.


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum, Campaign, Media portrayal
All of the major Croatia media have responded to the call and in solidarity with the banned journalists have completely boycotted the coverage of the initiative.


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum, Opinion polls
A poll conducted in June 2013 revealed that 55.3% of Croats support the changes, while 31.1% said they were opposed.


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum, Opinion polls
Another poll from November revealed that 54.3% of respondents will vote for the proposal and 33.6% against. 12.1% of respondents said they were not sure. The same poll revealed that 85.7% of HDZ voters and 39.5% of SDP voters support the proposed amendment.


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum, Opinion polls
A poll published by HRT two days before the vote showed that 59% of respondents would vote for the proposal, 31% against and 10% did not answer.


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum, Results
After processing all of the ballots, the State Election Commission announced that 65.87% voted yes, 33.51% no and 0.57% of ballots were disregarded as invalid. 37.9% of eligible voters have voted.


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum, Results
Pula, Rijeka, Varaždin and Čakovec were the only large cities, and Istria county and Primorje-Gorski Kotar County were the only counties where the majority of the voters voted no. The counties most supportive of changes were in the Croatian South: Šibenik-Knin, Split-Dalmatia, Dubrovnik-Neretva, and Brod-Posavina. This relative polarization of results between Croatian North and South has been interpreted by sociologists as closely connected to economic indicators as well as the extent to which the regions were affected by the war in the 1990s. In the capital Zagreb, 43.5% of voters voted no, which was interpreted as the capital being an amalgam of "largely incompatible tendencies".


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum, Results
Statistical analysis by electoral units has also indicated a strong correlation to political choices, with regions whose citizens voted for right-wing parties generally voting in favor of the referendum, while regions who voted for the left-wing coalition were largely against the referendum - albeit with many exceptions.


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum, Reactions, Negative reactions
The Prime Minister Zoran Milanović rejected accusations by civic initiatives that the government was complicit in calling the referendum. Milanović pointed out that the referendum was allowed by the constitution, that it is in no way related to the government, and no way does it change the existing definition of marriage according to Croatian laws. He further announced the upcoming enactment of the Law on Partnership, which will enable same-sex persons to form a lifetime partnership union. Such a union will share the same rights as that of marriage proper, apart from the fact that gay couples will not be able to adopt children, though they will be allowed to have custody of them.


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum, Reactions, Negative reactions
Vesna Pusić, the First Deputy Prime Minister, also rejected accusations on government's responsibility, commenting that the referendum is result of an omission, when the threshold of 50 percent voter turnout was abolished to pass the 2012 EU membership referendum. Pusić contended that the threshold had protected certain groups from discrimination by a minority, but care was not taken to specifically exempt human, civil and minority rights from being the subject of referendum questions.


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum, Reactions, Negative reactions
Hannes Swoboda, the President of the European Socialists, said that he "was deeply disappointed because he saw Croatia as an open and advanced society, and not as a country which prohibits happiness and equal rights".


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum, Reactions, Positive reactions
Hungary's ruling Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP) welcomed the results, which cheered the approval of partnership based on "the order of nature" and the affirmation of marriage "in the Christian sense". According to the KDNP, it is the victory of the "European Christian values".


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum, Reactions, Positive reactions
The Rabbinical Centre of Europe issued a statement that it was disturbed by comparisons between the initiative and the Nazi regime and totalitarian fascism, and that such statements were inappropriate and insulting to the memory of millions of their victims.


2013 Croatian constitutional referendum, Reactions, Positive reactions
Croatian bishop Vlado Košić described the government official's opposition to the referendum as shocking, unacceptable and undemocratic, emphasizing that Croats are Catholic people, cherishing traditions by which they have lived for centuries. He accused the government of atheizing the population, being eager to erase their traditional values, and has called for their resignation.


2013 Croatian local elections
The 2013 Croatian local elections were held on 19 May, with the second round held on 2 June where necessary.


2013 Croatian local elections
The elections were held to elect members of city councils, mayors, members of county councils and county prefects. The turnout was 47%, and 43% in the second round.


2013 Croatian local elections, Summary of mayoral results
In Zagreb, populist right-wing and former Social Democrat Milan Bandić won 47.9% of the vote against Social Democrat Health Minister Rajko Ostojić's 22.7%. Bandic received a two-thirds majority in the second round.


2013 Croatian local elections, Summary of mayoral results
The incumbent mayor of Split, Željko Kerum, placed third with 18.54% of the vote and was eliminated from the second round which was narrowly won by the Socialist candidate Ivo Baldasar.


2013 Croatian local elections, Summary of mayoral results
In Slavonia's largest city, Osijek, the HDSSB candidate, mayor Krešimir Bubalo, won 36.3% of the vote in the first round, but lost to Independent candidate Ivan Vrkić, who gained 27.8% in the second round.


2013 Croatian local elections, Election results, City of Split
The percentages of votes from each candidate are calculated from number of valid votersThe percentages of valid and invalid votes are calculated from the turnout numberThe turnout percentage is calculated from the number of expected voters


2013 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks season
The 2013 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks season is the 47th in the club's history. Coached by Shane Flanagan and captained by Paul Gallen, they competed in the NRL's 2013 Telstra Premiership. The Sharks finished the regular season 5th (out of 16), thus reaching the finals for a second consecutive season. They were then knocked out of contention in the second week of the finals by eventual grand finalists the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles.


2013 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks season
This year Damian Keogh became chairman of the club's board of directors.


2013 CrossFit Games
The 2013 CrossFit Games, the seventh CrossFit Games, were held on July 24–28, 2013, at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. The men's competition was won by Rich Froning Jr., the women's by Samantha Briggs, and the Affiliate Cup by Hacks Pack UTE.


2013 CrossFit Games
This year 138,000 athletes took part in the Open. The cash prize for the individual winners at the Games increased to $275,000. This is the first year prize money was also awarded to the top three finishers of each event.


2013 CrossFit Games, Qualification
In this season, 138,000 registered for the Open to compete for a place in the Games. The Open was held over five weeks from March 6 to April 7, with 5 workouts released for the athletes to complete, one per week. The number of qualifiers from the Open who can compete in the Regionals were reduced to 48 men and 48 women per region this year.


2013 CrossFit Games, Qualification
Qualifiers from the Open proceeded to take part in 7 events in three days in the Regionals; the 17 Regionals were spread over 4 weekends from May 17 through June 9, 2013. Six of these Regionals streamed their events live online. Unlike the preceding season, no athletes were cut during the competition. Three athletes from each Regionals qualified for the Games, apart from the Canadian Regionals (two each), and Asia, Africa and Latin America (one each). The scoring system for the Open and Regionals is the same as previous years (one point for first, two for second, etc.).


2013 CrossFit Games, Qualification
As with the 2012 season, extra places were given to Regionals where previous champions competed and qualified for the Games. CrossFit Games also exercised its right to offer a place in the Games to athletes who failed to qualify, which this year included past champion Kristan Clever. 47 men, 44 women, 43 teams were invited to the 2013 Games.


2013 CrossFit Games, Individual events
46 men and 44 women turned up at the 2013 Games to compete. The scoring system used was the same as the 2012 Games', and all events were scored a maximum of 100 points.


2013 CrossFit Games, Individual events, July 24, The Pool
10 rounds of: swim 25-yard swim, 3 bar muscle-ups, swim 25-yard swim.


2013 CrossFit Games, Individual events, July 24, The Pool
As with the Pendleton events in 2012, The Pool was a surprise addition to the Games, starting on Wednesday two days before the official start date. It was held at the Woollett Aquatic Center, and was the first swimming event to be held at the Games. Jordan Troyan won the men's event, and Michelle Letendre the women's.


2013 CrossFit Games, Individual events, July 24, Row 1 and Row 2
Complete 2000 meters on an indoor rower as fast as possible, and then continue rowing for an additional 19,097 m (half marathon distance) as fast as possible. Jason Khalipa won both the rowing events for the men, Samantha Briggs was first for both the women (Kaleena Ladeairous was joint first for the first row).


2013 CrossFit Games, Individual events, July 26, Burden Run
1) Run 2.1 miles; 2) Flip a frame ("pig") end-over-end for 100 yards (pig weight: 490 lb for men and 310 lb for women); 3) Carry a 3-foot-long log 600 yards (log weight: 100 lb for men and 70 lb for women); 4) Drag a sled 66 yards (sled weight: 310 lb for men and 220 lb for women)


2013 CrossFit Games, Individual events, July 26, Legless
Alternating sets of thrusters (front squat + push press) and no-legs rope climbs with decreasing repetitions each set. Thruster weight: 95 lb for men and 65 lb for women; rope climb height: 15 ft.


2013 CrossFit Games, Individual events, July 27, Naughty Nancy
4 rounds 1) run 600m, 2) 25 overhead squats (140 lb for men, 95 lb for women)


2013 CrossFit Games, Individual events, July 27, Clean & Jerk Ladder
One clean and jerk every 90 seconds with progressively increasing weight


2013 CrossFit Games, Individual events, July 27, 2007
1000m row, then 5 rounds of 1) 25 pull-ups, 2) 7 push jerks (135 lb for men, 85 lb for women)


2013 CrossFit Games, Individual events, July 28, Sprint Chipper
1) 21 GHD situps with a MedBall, 2) 15 snatches (165 lb for men, 100 lb for women), 3) 9 burpees over a 6-foot wall


2013 CrossFit Games, Individual events, July 28, The Cinco 1
3 rounds of 1) 5 deadlifts (405 lb for men, 265 lb for women), 2) 5 weighted pistol squats per leg (53 lb for men, 35 lb for women)


2013 CrossFit Games, Individual events, July 28, The Cinco 2
3 rounds of 1) 5 muscle-ups, 2) 5 deficit handstand pushups


2013 CrossFit Games, Individual events, July 28, The Cinco 2
Then, a 90-foot overhead walking lunge (160 lb barbell for men, 100 lb barbell for women)


2013 CrossFit Games, Team events
Unlike 2011 and 2012 when scores were wiped clean before the final day, scores for all events counted going into the Sunday events. Most events were scored a maximum of 100, except for a few which were scored 50 points (Iditarod 1/2/3).


2013 Cruzeiro Esporte Clube season
The 2013 season is Cruzeiro's ninety-second season in existence and the club's forty-third consecutive season in the top flight of Brazilian football.


2013 Crédit Agricole Suisse Open Gstaad
The 2013 Crédit Agricole Suisse Open Gstaad was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 46th edition of the Crédit Agricole Suisse Open Gstaad, and was part of the ATP World Tour 250 Series of the 2013 ATP World Tour. It took place at the Roy Emerson Arena in Gstaad, Switzerland, from 20 July through 28 July 2013.


2013 Crédit Agricole Suisse Open Gstaad, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2013 Crédit Agricole Suisse Open Gstaad, Doubles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following pairs received wildcards into the doubles main draw:


2013 Crédit Agricole Suisse Open Gstaad – Doubles
Marcel Granollers and Marc López were the defending champions but decided not to participate. Jamie Murray and John Peers won the title, defeating Pablo Andújar and Guillermo García-López in the final, 6–3, 6–4.


2013 Crédit Agricole Suisse Open Gstaad – Singles
Thomaz Bellucci was the defending champion but lost to Federico Delbonis in the first round. Mikhail Youzhny won the title, defeating Robin Haase in the final, 6–3, 6–4.


2013 Crédit Agricole Suisse Open Gstaad – Singles, Seeds
The top four seeds receive a bye into the second round.


2013 Cuban parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Cuba on 3 February 2013.


2013 Cuban parliamentary election, Electoral system
The 612 members of the National Assembly of People's Power were elected in single-member constituencies. Candidates had to obtain at least 50% of the valid votes in a constituency to be elected. If no candidate passed the 50% threshold, the seat was left vacant unless the Council of State chose to hold a by-election.


2013 Cuban parliamentary election, Electoral system
Only one candidate stood in each constituency, having been approved by the National Candidature Commission. The electoral law in force at the time stated that half of the candidates had to be municipal councillors, whilst the remaining half were put forward by assemblies composed of members of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution and groups representing farmers, students, women, workers and young people.


2013 Cumbria County Council election
An election to Cumbria County Council took place on 2 May 2013 as part of the 2013 United Kingdom local elections. All 84 councillors were elected from electoral divisions which returned one county councillor each by first-past-the-post voting for a four-year term of office. Following an electoral review carried out by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England, newly drawn electoral divisions were used without change in the number of county councillors.


2013 Cumbria County Council election
All locally registered electors (British, Irish, Commonwealth and European Union citizens) who were aged 18 or over on Thursday 2 May 2013 were entitled to vote in the local elections. Those who were temporarily away from their ordinary address (for example, away working, on holiday, in student accommodation or in hospital) were also entitled to vote in the local elections, although those who had moved abroad and registered as overseas electors cannot vote in the local elections.


2013 Cumbria County Council election
It is possible to register to vote at more than one address (such as a university student who had a term-time address and lives at home during holidays) at the discretion of the local Electoral Register Office, but it remains an offence to vote more than once in the same local government election. Prior to the election the Conservatives were in a joint administration with Labour, the Liberal Democrats being in opposition.


2013 Cumbria County Council election, Summary
The election saw the council remain in no overall control. However Labour councillors overtook Conservatives to become the largest party on the county council.


2013 Cumbria County Council election, Summary
The Liberal Democrat and Conservative parties had enough seats to form a coalition, with the support of some of the Independents, but following the election of a new Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, a coalition was formed between them and Labour, with the Conservatives going into opposition .


2013 Cup of China
The 2013 Cup of China was the third event of six in the 2013–14 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on November 1–3. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. Skaters earned points toward qualifying for the 2013–14 Grand Prix Final.


2013 Cup of China, Entries, Changes to preliminary assignments
Polina Korobeynikova withdrew and was replaced by Nikol Gosviani. Geng Bingwa withdrew and was replaced by Guo Xiaowen. Kevin Reynolds also withdrew; he was not replaced.


2013 Cupa României Final
The Cupa României Final was the final match of the 2012–13 Cupa României, played between Petrolul Ploiești and CFR Cluj. The match was played on 1 June 2013 at the Arena Națională in Bucharest. Petrolul Ploiești won the match 1-0, triumphing for the 3rd time in this competition while CFR Cluj lost its first final. It was the second final played on the Arena Națională and the second in Bucharest since 2006. Jeremy Bokila scored the only goal of the match in the 8th minute and was named Man of the Match. Winners Petrolul Ploiești will face Romanian Champions, on the same stadium on 10 July in the Romanian Supercup.


2013 Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Curling Classic
The 2013 Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Curling Classic was held from October 11 to 14 at the Calgary Curling Club in Calgary, Alberta. The event was the first women's Grand Slam of the 2013–14 World Curling Tour. The event was held in a triple knockout format, and the purse for the event was CAD$50,000. The winning team received $14,000.


2013 Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Curling Classic
Eve Muirhead's Scottish rink won the tournament with seven straight victories, a first in the bonspiel's history. She defeated China's Wang Bingyu in the final, which saw the first time the tournament featured two non-Canadian teams in the final. It is also the second straight women's slam to feature two non-Canadian teams in the final, which has only happened one time before in Grand Slam history. Muirhead, who won the 2013 Players' Championship in April, won her second straight slam.


2013 Currie Cup First Division
The 2013 Currie Cup First Division was contested from 29 June to 11 October 2013. The tournament (also known as the Absa Currie Cup First Division for sponsorship reasons) is the second tier of South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces.


2013 Currie Cup First Division, Competition, Regular season and title play offs
There were 8 participating teams in the 2013 Currie Cup First Division. These teams played each other twice over the course of the season, once at home and once away.


2013 Currie Cup First Division, Competition, Regular season and title play offs
Teams received four points for a win and two points for a draw. Bonus points were awarded to teams that scored 4 or more tries in a game, as well as to teams losing a match by 7 points or less. Teams were ranked by points, then points difference (points scored less points conceded).


2013 Currie Cup First Division, Competition, Regular season and title play offs
The top 4 teams qualified for the title play-offs. In the semi-finals, the team that finished first had home advantage against the team that finished fourth, while the team that finished second had home advantage against the team that finished third. The winners of these semi-finals played each other in the final, at the home venue of the higher-placed team.


2013 Currie Cup First Division, Competition, Promotion play offs
The top team on the log also qualified for the promotion/relegation play-offs. That team played off against the team placed sixth in the 2013 Currie Cup Premier Division over two legs. The winner over these two ties (determined via team tables, with all Currie Cup ranking regulations in effect) qualified for the 2014 Currie Cup Premier Division, while the losing team qualified for the 2014 Currie Cup First Division.


2013 Currie Cup First Division, Players, Player Statistics
The following table contain points which have been scored in competitive games in the 2013 Currie Cup First Division.


2013 Currie Cup First Division, Players, Squad Lists
The following players took part in the 2013 Currie Cup First Division.


2013 Currie Cup Premier Division
The 2013 Currie Cup Premier Division was the 75th season in the competition since it started in 1889 and was contested from 10 August to 26 October 2013. The tournament (known as the Absa Currie Cup Premier Division for sponsorship reasons) was the top tier of South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition.


2013 Currie Cup Premier Division, Competition, Regular season and title play offs
There were 6 participating teams in the 2013 Currie Cup Premier Division. These teams played each other twice over the course of the season, once at home and once away.


2013 Currie Cup Premier Division, Competition, Regular season and title play offs
Teams received four points for a win and two points for a draw. Bonus points were awarded to teams that score 4 or more tries in a game, as well as to teams losing a match by 7 points or less. Teams were ranked by log points.


2013 Currie Cup Premier Division, Competition, Regular season and title play offs
The top 4 teams qualified for the title play-offs. In the semi-finals, the team that finished first had home advantage against the team that finished fourth, while the team that finished second had home advantage against the team that finished third. The winners of these semi-finals played each other in the final, at the home venue of the higher-placed team.


2013 Currie Cup Premier Division, Competition, Relegation play offs
The bottom team on the log qualified for the promotion/relegation play-offs. That team played off against the team placed first in the 2013 Currie Cup First Division over two legs. The winner over these two ties (determined via team tables, with all Currie Cup ranking regulations in effect) qualified for the 2014 Currie Cup Premier Division, while the losing team qualified for the 2014 Currie Cup First Division.


2013 Currie Cup Premier Division, Players, Player Statistics
The following table contain only points which have been scored in competitive games in the 2013 Currie Cup Premier Division.


2013 Currie Cup Premier Division, Players, Squad Lists
The following players have been named in the squads for the 2013 Currie Cup Premier Division:


2013 Cypriot presidential election
Presidential elections were held in Cyprus on 17 February 2013. A runoff was held on 24 February 2013. Nicos Anastasiades of Democratic Rally won the election. The other candidates were Stavros Malas of the Progressive Party of Working People (AKEL); Praxoula Antoniadou of the United Democrats;  Lakis Ioannou with the support of LASOK; Loukas Stavrou; ELAM's Giorgos Charalambous, Giorgos Lillikas of Movement for Social Democracy (EDEK); and independents Andreas Efstratiou, Makaria-Andri Stylianou, Kostas Kyriacou(Outopos) and Solon Gregoriou. Although the president Demetris Christofias was not term-limited, he did not seek re-election in 2013.


2013 Cypriot presidential election, Announcements of candidates and supports for the first round
The first candidate who confirmed the intention to be the candidate of his party was DISY's Nicos Anastasiades on 11 February 2012 at the Pancypriot Convention of the party. The Supreme Council of DISY (on 17 February) had to choose between Nicos Anastasiades and MEP, Eleni Theocharous. The Council voted in favour of Nicos Anastasiades with 673 votes (86.73%) and Eleni Theocharous with 103 votes (13.27%).


2013 Cypriot presidential election, Announcements of candidates and supports for the first round
When president Christofias decided not to be seeking re-election for February 2013, in late July AKEL's Central Committee decided to suggest Minister of Health Stavros Malas to be the candidate of the party. On 21 July 2012 the Pancypriot Convention of AKEL voted in favour of Stavros Malas with 1183 votes (92.3%), against 81 (6.3%) and 17 abstentions (1.3%). Stavros Malas confirmed his candidacy with the support of AKEL on 7 September. On 15 October he resigned as Minister of Health .


2013 Cypriot presidential election, Announcements of candidates and supports for the first round
After a failed attempt by DIKO, Evroko, Ecological and Environmental Movement and EDEK to form a coalition, known as Intermediate political space (gr:Ενδιάμεσος πολιτικός χώρος- Endiamesos politikos horos), EDEK decided to back independent candidate Giorgos Lillikas ( who had already confirmed his candidacy on 6 April) on 27 July at the Central Committee of the party.


2013 Cypriot presidential election, Announcements of candidates and supports for the first round
DIKO had two plans on the table. The first was to back Nicos Anastasiades and the second to back a candidate from DIKO. After the talks on 30 August between Nicos Anastasiades and the president of DIKO Marios Garoyian,  the two leaders agreed for cooperation. On 25 September the Executive Bureau of DIKO officially suggested the Central Committee to back Anastasiades. At the Central Committee on 27 September 117 members voted in-favour of Anastasiades (81.9%), 27 against and 2 abstained. The two parties had also talks with other parties such as Evroko and the Ecological and Environmental Movement to create and broaden a coalition of "National Unity".


2013 Cypriot presidential election, Announcements of candidates and supports for the first round
Evroko was between to choose either Anastasiades or Lillikas. On 27 September (DIKO's decision day) president of Evroko Demetris Sillouris, had talks with Nicos Anastasiades and most possible scenario was to back DISY. Although, on 17 October Evroko's Executive Bureau decided not to back any of the candidates. At the Central Council, on 3 November, it had to be decided either the acceptance of EB's decision or denial. 75% of the members of the party voted in-favour of EB's decision and 25% against. The members can vote any of the two candidates (Lillikas-Anastasiades) they want.


2013 Cypriot presidential election, Announcements of candidates and supports for the first round
The Movement's Convention was held on 7 October. The members had the opportunity to decide which candidate would be backed by the Movement. The results were split between Lillikas and Anastasiades. Lillikas got 45% and Anastasiades 40%. An electoral conference was scheduled to be held on 4 November where the decision was going to be determined. The Movement would back the candidate who obtained 60% of the vote. Although no candidate obtained 60% of the vote and so the voters of the Movement can vote any of the candidates they want. (like Evroko did)


2013 Cypriot presidential election, Candidates and supporting parties
Eleven candidates were approved to participate in the elections. Each candidate had to be recommended by one Cypriot citizen and supported by eight more.


2013 Cypriot presidential election, Candidates and supporting parties, 1st round
All the names of the candidates were announced on 18 January. The names are:


2013 Cypriot presidential election, Announcements of supports for the second round
After the elimination of Giorgos Lillikas in the first round, Evroko decided to back Nicos Anastasiades.


2013 Cypriot presidential election, Announcements of supports for the second round
When Lillikas didn't pass to the second round, the Executive Bureau decided not to endorse any of the remaining candidates. In contrast with EDEK, the Party of European Socialists (mother European political party of EDEK)  endorsed Malas. This endorsement brought anger to some EDEK's MP.


2013 Cypriot presidential election, Announcements of supports for the second round
The Archbishop of the Church of Cyprus, Chrysostomos II, endorsed Nicos Anastasiades at the second round.


2013 Cypriot presidential election, Main topics, Debates
Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation had talks with all the spokespersons of the candidates. Lillikas and Malas wanted four debates, three before the first round and one before the second. Anastasiades wanted three (two for the first round and one for the second) because he believed that four debates would "harm the image" of the candidates. In a meeting with spokespersons of four large Cypriot media networks (Mega, ANT1, Sigma, RIK), it was proposed to hold five debates. In two debates all candidates would participate. The other three debates would be double, which means that they would be between two participants (Anastasiades-Malas, Malas-Lillikas, Anastasiades-Lillikas). However, on 7 November it was decided that three debates were going to be held before the first round and one before a possible second round.


2013 Cypriot presidential election, Main topics, Debates
The debates were held on 14 and 28 January and 11 February. The fourth and last presidential debate was held on 22 February. The structure of the debates was:


2013 Cypriot presidential election, Main topics, Guinness World Records logo dispute
On 29 January, the independent candidate Andreas Efstratiou was accused (by an anonymous citizen) of using the logo of Guinness World Records without the permission of the Corporation. The logo was printed on the ballot slip of the election. Efstratiou has been a holder of a Guinness World Record since 2007, when he created the longest wedding-gown train in the world. All the 545,180 ballot slips were destroyed and new ballot slips, without the logo, were printed. It was announced that €40,000 were wasted. The Central Electoral Service asked Efstratiou to pay at least €15,000. He refused, stating that he had 8 children and cannot afford the cost.


2013 Cypriot presidential election, Opinion polls
A collection of opinion polls taken before the elections is listed below. After 9 February 2013, no opinion poll was allowed to be published.


2013 Cypriot presidential election, Results and reaction
On 24 February, Nicos Anastasiades won the presidential election with 57.48% of the vote; his opponent Stavros Malas received the remaining 42.52%. Of 545,000 eligible voters, 412,000 cast a ballot for one of the two candidates. In addition, the 81% turnout was lower than expected. It is believed that many people cast blank ballots or refused to vote out of protest. A week earlier, Anastasiades had won 45% of the first round vote with Malas receiving 27%, necessitating a second round of voting since no candidate received a strong majority of the votes. In that round, Giorgos Lillikas won 24% of the vote and eight minor candidates received under 1% each.


2013 Cypriot presidential election, Reactions
Anastasiades' victory led to celebrations in the nation's capital of Nicosia and boosted hopes of reaching a financial bailout deal with international banks. Economist Stelios Platis remarked "I would expect the markets, and business, to welcome Anastasiades's victory because he knows the rules of the game very well." However, political analyst Alexander White said immediate resolution to Cyprus' debt problems was unlikely. Agence France-Presse remarked that Anastasiades represented a stark contrast to the outgoing government and speculated that "his perceived bias towards big business may put him on a collision course with influential and powerful trade unions". In his concession speech, Malas pledged to support Anastasiades "in actions and politics that we believe are followed for the good of the country".


2013 Cypriot presidential election, Aftermath
Anastasiades was sworn in on 28 February 2013 and assumed power on 1 March.


2013 Cyprus Women's Cup
The 2013 Cyprus Women's Cup was the sixth edition of the Cyprus Women's Cup, an invitational women's football tournament held annually in Cyprus. It took place between 3–14 March 2013.


2013 Cyprus Women's Cup
Defending champions France cancelled their participation just after the UEFA Women's Euro 2013 draw, because of too many European opponents in the tournament. The tournament was won by England.


2013 Cyprus Women's Cup, Format
The twelve invited teams are split into three groups that played a round-robin tournament.


2013 Cyprus Women's Cup, Format
Groups A and B, containing the strongest ranked teams, are the only ones in contention to win the title. The group winners from A and B contested the final, with the runners-up playing for third place. The Group C winner faced the better third place team from Groups A and B for fifth, with the Group C runner-up facing the other third place team for seventh. Group C's third place team faced the better fourth place team of Groups A and B, while the other two fourth place teams play in the 11th place match.


2013 Cyprus Women's Cup, Format
Points awarded in the group stage followed the standard formula of three points for a win, one point for a draw and zero points for a loss. In the case of two teams being tied on the same number of points in a group, their head-to-head result determined the higher place.


2013 Cyprus Women's Cup, Venues
The games were played in 3 host stadiums in 3 cities.


2013 Czech Lion Awards
2013 Czech Lion Awards ceremony was held on 22 February 2014.


2013 Czech Republic motorcycle Grand Prix
The 2013 Czech Republic motorcycle Grand Prix was the eleventh round of the 2013 MotoGP season. It was held at the Masaryk Circuit in Brno on 25 August 2013.


2013 Czech Republic motorcycle Grand Prix, Championship standings after the race (MotoGP)
Below are the standings for the top five riders and constructors after round eleven has concluded.


2013 Czech Social Democratic Party leadership election
The Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) leadership election of 2015 was held in March 2013. The incumbent leader Bohuslav Sobotka was elected for another term. Sobotka received 84% of votes.


2013 Czech legislative election
Early legislative elections were held in the Czech Republic on 25 and 26 October 2013, seven months before the constitutional expiry of the elected parliament's four-year legislative term.


2013 Czech legislative election
The government elected in May 2010 led by Prime Minister Petr Nečas was forced to resign on 17 June 2013, after a corruption and bribery scandal. A caretaker government led by Prime Minister Jiří Rusnok was then appointed by the President, but narrowly lost a vote of confidence on 7 August, leading to its resignation six days later. The Chamber of Deputies then passed a motion of dissolution on 20 August, requiring new elections to be called within 60 days of presidential assent. The President gave his assent on 28 August, scheduling the elections for 25 and 26 October 2013.


2013 Czech legislative election
The two parties gaining the most seats were the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) (50 seats) and the new party ANO 2011 (47 seats). The Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia came third, with an increase in vote share of 3.6%. The two parties from the previous coalition government who were contesting the election, TOP 09 and the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), lost substantial numbers of seats, to finish fourth and fifth, respectively. Two other parties (re)entered the parliament, the new party Dawn of Direct Democracy, and the Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party.


2013 Czech legislative election, Background
The previous election in May 2010 resulted in the formation of a three-party centre-right coalition government consisting of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), TOP 09 and Public Affairs (VV), with 118 seats, led by Prime Minister Petr Nečas.


2013 Czech legislative election, Background
On 22 April 2012, after a split in VV related to corruption accusations against the party leadership (especially Vít Bárta), ODS and TOP 09 dissolved their coalition with VV, raising the possibility that early elections would be held in June 2012. However, shortly afterwards a breakaway faction of VV, led by Karolína Peake, formed a new party, LIDEM, who replaced VV in the coalition with ODS and TOP 09. The revised coalition controlled 100 seats (ODS=51, TOP09=41, LIDEM=8), and won a subsequent vote of confidence on 27 April 2012 by 105 to 93 votes, with additional support from some independent MPs.


2013 Czech legislative election, Background
On 17 June 2013, Prime Minister Petr Nečas resigned after a spying and corruption scandal. The Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD), the largest opposition party, called for the dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies and a snap election, while the ODS‑TOP09‑LIDEM coalition argued they could still command a majority under Miroslava Němcová (ODS) as the new prime minister, as they proposed to the Czech President. From 25 June 2013, the previous government coalition only held 98 seats (ODS=50, TOP09=42, LIDEM=6), and was therefore dependent upon support from independent MPs.


2013 Czech legislative election, Background
To demonstrate its majority, the ODS-led coalition submitted 101 MP signatures of support to the president, including two extra independents as part of the LIDEM parliamentary group and the independent Michal Doktor, a former ODS member. In an unprecedented move, President Miloš Zeman decided not to accept the coalition's requests, but instead appointed a caretaker government with Jiří Rusnok as new prime minister. Zeman described the new government as a "government of experts", while his critics described it as a "government of Zeman's friends". Former Prime Minister Jan Fischer was named as finance minister.


2013 Czech legislative election, Background
Zeman stated that if the caretaker government could not win majority support in the vote of confidence required by the constitution to take place after 30 days in office, then he would give the ODS-led coalition a second attempt to form a government, provided it could still submit at least 101 signatures of support from MPs.


2013 Czech legislative election, Background
On 7 August 2013, Jiří Rusnok's caretaker government lost the confidence vote in parliament by 93 to 100 votes, with 7 abstentions. A simple majority was required to unseat the government, which was supported by all MPs from ODS, TOP09 and LIDEM (except two ODS MPs and Karolína Peake of LIDEM, who broke the party line by abstaining). The two dissenting ODS MPs, who were both expelled from the party a few hours after the vote, explained their decision by stating that ODS needed a period of self-reflection in opposition in order to win the municipal elections in 2014.


2013 Czech legislative election, Background
Karolína Peake resigned as leader of LIDEM after the vote, and TOP 09 stated that due to a lack of support for a reformed ODS‑TOP09‑LIDEM government, as indicated by the results of the confidence vote, they would withdraw their support for this coalition, in favour of early elections. ČSSD and the Communist Party (KSČM) also supported early elections.


2013 Czech legislative election, Background
Though the constitution of the Czech Republic allows the president two attempts to appoint someone to form a new government, there is no time limit. As such, in theory the caretaker government could be allowed by the president to continue in its interim capacity until new elections took place, despite having lost the confidence vote. The end of the legislative term was scheduled to be May 2014, unless the parliament was dissolved before that date.


2013 Czech legislative election, Background
Nevertheless, the caretaker government decided voluntarily to resign on 13 August 2013, with immediate effect, and the parliament convened on 20 August to decide whether to dissolve the parliament and call for new elections within 60 days, or to request that the president again appoint someone to form a new government.


2013 Czech legislative election, Background
A vote on dissolution of the parliament was scheduled to take place at 14:00 on 20 August. The four parties who had stated their support for the motion (TOP 09, ČSSD, KSČM and VV) together held more than the 60% majority (120 seats) required to pass the motion of dissolution, according to article 35(2) of the constitution. On 20 August, the parliament approved the motion of dissolution by 140 to 7. The president gave his assent for the dissolution of the parliament on 28 August, and scheduled the elections for 25‑26 October 2013.


2013 Czech legislative election, Incumbent parliament
The distribution of seats in the Chamber of Deputies on 20 August 2013, immediately before the parliament was dissolved, was as follows:


2013 Czech legislative election, Incumbent parliament
* Three of these eight members (Martin Vacek, Radim Vysloužil, Jana Suchá) were not members of the LIDEM party itself, but independents who worked with the LIDEM parliamentary group.


2013 Czech legislative election, Overseas voters
Following a random draw carried out by the State Election Committee, Czechs voting abroad who did not have permanent residency in the country would be included as voters in the Central Bohemian Region.


2013 Czech legislative election, Aftermath, ČSSD internal conflict
Following the election, ČSSD said they were open to talks with all parties about the formation of a government. ANO leader Babis said he could imagine supporting a ČSSD-led government, whether in a coalition or supporting a ČSSD minority government from opposition, but that it was not his preferred option, as he opposed ČSSD proposals for tax increases. He also indicated that he would seek to become Minister of Finance in any coalition cabinet.


2013 Czech legislative election, Aftermath, ČSSD internal conflict
Immediately after the elections, two factions emerged in the ČSSD, one supporting chairman Bohuslav Sobotka and the other led by Michal Hašek, ČSSD's leader in Moravia. Hašek, with support from President Miloš Zeman, issued a statement calling for Bohuslav Sobotka to resign as party chairman. ČSSD leaders had already appointed Hašek as the lead negotiator in coalition talks due to take place with other parties. A few days previously, Michal Hašek had declared his loyalty to Sobotka, and endorsed him as leader of ČSSD.


2013 Czech legislative election, Aftermath, ČSSD internal conflict
ČSSD members organized meetings and rallies against Hašek, and Sobotka compared Hašek to Zdeněk Fierlinger, ČSSD's pro-Communist leader from 1948 who forced the party to merge with the Communist regime. Sobotka was supported by Jiří Dienstbier Jr., the party's most recent presidential candidate, while Hašek was supported by party figures including Jeroným Tejc and Lubomír Zaorálek. According to opinion polls, the situation was perceived by the public as an attempted leadership coup. Subsequently, Hašek and his allies, in the face of popular and party support for Bohuslav Sobotka, resigned their positions within the party and lost influence. A new negotiation team was formed, led by Bohuslav Sobotka, to negotiate with ANO and KDU-ČSL.


2013 Czech legislative election, Aftermath, Government formation
On 11 November, ČSSD began coalition talks with ANO and KDU-ČSL. All parties agreed on progressive taxation, abolition of the previous government's social reforms and a law about property origin. However, disagreement remained between ČSSD and KDU-ČSL regarding church restitution.


2013 Czech legislative election, Aftermath, Government formation
In late December 2013, leaders of ČSSD, ANO and KDU-ČSL announced that they had reached an agreement on a coalition government. The coalition agreement was signed on 6 January 2014. The parties also agreed on a cabinet, in which ČSSD took eight ministries, ANO seven ministries and KDU-ČSL three ministries. Sobotka became prime minister, with Babiš deputy prime minister and minister of finance, and KDU-ČSL leader Pavel Bělobrádek second deputy Prime Minister. Bohuslav Sobotka's Cabinet was sworn in on 29 January 2014.


2013 Czech political corruption scandal
The 2013 Czech political corruption scandal started with a raid against organized crime which was conducted in the Czech Republic in June 2013 by the Police Unit for Combating Organized Crime (Czech: Útvar pro odhalování organizovaného zločinu, ÚOOZ) and the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office (Vrchní státní zastupitelství) in Olomouc. It involved several highly positioned state officers and politicians, as well as controversial entrepreneurs and lobbyists. The scandal affected the top levels of Czech politics, including Prime Minister Petr Nečas and his coalition government. On 17 June 2013, it resulted in the resignation of the Prime Minister and the cabinet. Nečas also quit as leader of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS).


2013 Czech political corruption scandal, Overview
The investigation of the case started in early 2012, according to Robert Šlachta, the head of the Unit for Combating Organized Crime. Ivo Ištvan, the Chief Public Prosecutor in Olomouc, confirmed that a total of 400 policemen were deployed in the raid.


2013 Czech political corruption scandal, Overview
On 13 June 2013, some of the closest advisors and collaborators of the Czech Prime Minister, including Jana Nagyová, Managing Director of the Section of the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic's Cabinet, and Lubomír Poul, Director of the Office of the Government, were arrested in association with unspecified misconduct. Ondrej Páleník, former head of the Military Intelligence Service; Milan Kovanda, current head of the Military Intelligence Service; Ivan Fuksa, former Minister, and Petr Tluchoř, former Deputy, were among the arrested as well. The seat of the Government of the Czech Republic and offices of several influential Prague lobbyists were raided by police. The whereabouts of Petr Nečas after the arrests were not known, however, later he announced that his confidence in Nagyová "had not decreased". He also denied speculation about his resignation.


2013 Czech political corruption scandal, Overview
On 14 June 2013, the Unit for Combating Organized Crime and the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in Olomouc announced that Nagyová and members of the Military Intelligence Service had been accused of abuse of power and corruption. Nagyová, one of the closest collaborators of the Prime Minister, allegedly misused the Intelligence Service to monitor Nečas' wife (among others) without the official approval of the Defence Minister in late 2012. Her motives were, according to the police, purely private. Petr Nečas was in divorce proceedings when the scandal erupted.


2013 Czech political corruption scandal, Overview
Additionally, the investigation targeted an organized group of lobbyists and state officers attempting to influence state institutions for their own enrichment. The Unit for Combating Organized Crime confiscated around CZK 120–150m ($7.8m) in cash and tens of kilograms of gold during the raid. Eight people were charged with various offences.


2013 Czech political corruption scandal, Overview
Nečas, under pressure from opposition parties and politicians, repeated his refusal to resign. He issued an apology for the actions of Jana Nagyová and denied that he was aware of it. He also announced her retirement from the office. ČSSD, the major opposition party, announced its intention to invoke a vote of no confidence on 18 June 2013.


2013 Czech political corruption scandal, Overview
On 15 June, the District Court in Ostrava decided to take into custody Nagyová, Páleník, Tluchoř, Fuksa, Jan Pohůnek, former employee of the Military Intelligence Service, Marek Šnajdr, former Deputy, and Roman Boček, former employee of the Ministry of Agriculture. Lubomír Poul was not charged and Milan Kovanda was released.


2013 Czech political corruption scandal, Overview
On 16 June 2013, Petr Nečas announced that he would resign on Monday, 17 June 2013. "I am fully aware of how the ups and downs of my personal life currently burden the political scene and ODS ... I want to emphasize that I'm aware of my political responsibility and I draw the consequences from that", he said.


2013 Czech political corruption scandal, Overview
On 16 July 2013, the Supreme Court of the Czech Republic in Brno decided in favour of three former members of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic, Ivan Fuksa, Marek Šnajdr and Petr Tluchoř, on the grounds of their parliamentary immunity at the time of their involvement in the case. The three named persons were released from prison. Jana Nagyová and the other suspects were released from custody on 19 July 2013. According to the court, the danger of influencing witnesses has passed, as key witnesses have already been interrogated.


2013 Czech political corruption scandal, Overview
According to the Czech news websites, Nečas married Nagyová on 21 September 2013.


2013 Czech political corruption scandal, Progress in further years
The case of the misuse of the Military Intelligence Service was tried by the District Court of Prague 1 starting in November 2014. During the trial Petr Necas himself admitted he requested monitoring of his wife Radka Necasova in 2012 due to security risks connected with his role as PM.


2013 Czech political corruption scandal, Progress in further years
On 29 May 2015 the court acquitted all persons charged (including Jana Nagyová and military intelligence officers) of those particular charges while saying the monitoring of later PM's spouse was not considered to be illegal wrongdoing.


2013 Czech political corruption scandal, Progress in further years
The public prosecutor refused the outcome and appealed immediately after the court's statement. The appellate court (the Regional Court of Prague) reviewed the trial in April 2016 and annulled it because the District Court had overlooked some evidence. Another trial was held but on 17 June 2016, all charged persons were acquitted of their charges once again.


2013 Czech political corruption scandal, Analysis and conclusions
According to the Czech media and political commentators, the case consists of several more or less related parts. A leaked police document based on wiretapping records indicates that spying on the Prime Minister's wife by his managing director was prompted by personal motives and that the relationship between Nagyová and Nečas was more than collegial. "We see a story that meets the quality parameters of a good Mexican telenovela", commented the newspaper Mladá fronta DNES.


2013 Czech political corruption scandal, Analysis and conclusions
The arrests and charging of several deputies were substantiated by the fact that they were rewarded by lucrative posts in exchange for their resignation and loyalty to the party (ODS) during an important parliamentary vote. While the police considers it to be a case of corruption, Nečas claims it was a standard political deal. Nečas found himself among the suspects, as he had promised and provided the bribe to the deputies.


2013 Czech political corruption scandal, Analysis and conclusions
The large police operation also focused on activities of influential Prague entrepreneurs and lobbyists, namely Roman Janoušek and Ivo Rittig. The investigative authorities raided their offices in association with suspicious activities related to investments made by the Magistrate of the Capital City of Prague and other state-controlled subjects. Both Janoušek and Rittig were outside the country at the time of the raid.


2013 Czech political corruption scandal, Analysis and conclusions
The police investigation was prompted by suspicion that Libor Grygárek, a former Deputy at the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in Prague, was in connection with an organized group of entrepreneurs abusing state contracts (Janoušek and Rittig were among those suspected). Grygárek was neither arrested nor charged with any crime at that time. In December 2013, he was charged with misuse of power in 2009. In February 2014, Ivo Rittig was arrested and charged with money laundering in a separate case.


2013 Czech presidential election
Presidential elections were held in the Czech Republic in January 2013, the country's first direct election for the presidency. No candidate received a majority of the votes in the first round on 11–12 January, so a second round runoff election was held on 25–26 January. Nine individuals secured enough signatures or support of parliamentarians to become official candidates for the office. Miloš Zeman of the Party of Civic Rights (SPOZ) and Karel Schwarzenberg of TOP 09 qualified for the second round, which was won by Zeman with 54.8% of the vote, compared to Schwarzenberg's 45.2%. Zeman assumed office in March 2013 after being sworn in.


2013 Czech presidential election, Background
After the dissolution of Czechoslovakia and the adoption of a new constitution in 1992, the president was indirectly elected by a joint session of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Czech Republic. The possibility of a directly elected President was controversial because of concerns that it could weaken a government under the Prime Minister. The 2008 presidential election, which narrowly reelected Václav Klaus after several attempts, however was criticized for the appearance of political deal-making and allegations of corruption.


2013 Czech presidential election, Background
Prime Minister Petr Nečas subsequently put the issue of a directly elected President in his three-party coalition agreement when he formed his government in 2010, in part because of demands by the TOP 09 party, and the Public Affairs and Mayors and Independents parties. Several outspoken opponents of the change however came from the Prime Minister's own Civic Democratic Party.


2013 Czech presidential election, Background
In September 2011, an amendment was submitted to the Chamber of Deputies for a second official reading, during which the Communist Party (KSČM) tried to reject the bill by sending it back into the review process, but the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD), also part of the opposition, did not support the Communists' motion, and allowed the bill to go ahead with certain changes, including limits on presidential power and penal immunity. On 14 December 2011, the Chamber of Deputies passed the constitutional amendment for direct elections by a vote of 159 out of 192.


2013 Czech presidential election, Background
This was then sent to the Senate, which passed the amendment on 8 February 2012 after five hours of debate by a majority of 49 of 75. The Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, Pavel Rychetský, criticized the bill's method in which a constitutional amendment was in effect added, though without changing the original text of the constitution, and while leaving the election open to legal and constitutional challenges.


2013 Czech presidential election, Background
In June 2012 an implementation bill for holding the election passed in the Chamber of Deputies, and in July in the Senate. Though constitutional amendments do not require presidential approval, and cannot be vetoed, President Václav Klaus did need to sign or veto the implementation bill; a refusal could have halted the constitutional changes. Klaus opposed the measure, though saying it was a "fatal mistake" as the country was not ready for such a move. He however signed the law on 1 August 2012. The law was scheduled to take effect on 1 October 2012, after which Senate President Milan Štěch was due to set a date for the election, following discussions with the Ministry of the Interior.


2013 Czech presidential election, Background
The two-day first round was on 11–12 January 2013. However, because no one secured an absolute majority, a run-off round was held on 25–26 January 2013. Candidates were allowed to spend up to Kč40 million in the first round and Kč10 million in the second round. Each candidate had an election committee that manages campaign funding, which should be run through a special account. All anonymous campaigns contributions were banned.


2013 Czech presidential election, Candidates
In order to be a candidate, an individual needs to gather 50,000 signatures from citizens or the support of twenty Deputies or ten Senators. The candidates were bound to file their applications with the signatures sixty-six days before the election; following which the Interior Ministry verified a sampling of the signatures.


2013 Czech presidential election, Candidates
The Civic Democratic Party (ODS) held primary elections in July 2012 to choose their candidate, selecting former President of the Senate Přemysl Sobotka over MEP Evžen Tošenovský. SPOZ, TOP 09, and Suverenita have their party leaders running for the post. Jan Švejnar, who ran for the presidency in 2008 against Václav Klaus, declined to run in order to support Jan Fischer's candidacy.


2013 Czech presidential election, Candidates, Confirmed candidates
Vladimír Franz appears insignificant in agency surveys but in November he was the obvious favorite of opinion polls of several different popular news servers and media (Aktuálně.cz, Reflex, iDnes.cz) as well as of so-called "students' elections" in all regions and all types of secondary schools. The current president Klaus expressed fear that his successor would be Franz or Okamura.


2013 Czech presidential election, Candidates, Disqualified candidates
The following list includes the candidates who were disqualified after the Ministry of Interior reviewed their petitions assessing that they failed to meet the quorum of minimum of 50,000 popular signatures or twenty MPs in the Chamber of Deputies, or ten MPs in the Senate.


2013 Czech presidential election, Candidates, Disqualified candidates
Candidates Jana Bobošíková, Vladimír Dlouhý, and Tomio Okamura collected more than 50,000 signatures; however, after checking two samples of each petition and reducing the number of signatures according to the error rate, the number fell below the requirement; accordingly, they were not registered as candidates. Along with the action, the ministry stated that many of Bobošíková's alleged signatories were long dead; while in case of Okamura, the ministry found a large number of fictitious signatories. Both candidates appealed the ministry's decision before the Supreme Administrative Court, believing that the ministry had used an incorrect method of recount.


2013 Czech presidential election, Candidates, Disqualified candidates
On 13 December 2012, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled on the complaints. It ordered that Bobošíková must be registered as a candidate, and rejected the complaints of Dlouhý and Okamura, as even after correcting the error in computation their number of valid signatures still fails to meet the quorum. Okamura unsuccessfully challenged the verdict at the Constitutional Court.


2013 Czech presidential election, Candidates, Withdrawn candidate
Jan Toman from Bechyně filed his own candidature on 6 November but he attached no petition. He was also the attorney of the candidate Karel Světnička, and Karel Světnička was the attorney of Jan Toman. However, a candidate must not be an attorney of any proposer. Jan Světnička surrendered his own candidature on 22 November and remained the attorney of Karel Světnička.


2013 Czech presidential election, Candidates, Other announced candidates
The following list includes some of the people who announced their candidacy but the proposal was not filed finally. Some of them started to collect petition signatures.


2013 Czech presidential election, Candidates, Other possible candidates
Jan Švejnar a candidate in 2008 presidential election was speculated to be one of possible candidates and he himself admitted that he considers running. He quickly one of the frontrunners according to polls that showed him being the 2nd strongest candidate. His support decreased by the time and he fell to 3rd or 4th place. Švejnar eventually said in September 2012 that he won't run.


2013 Czech presidential election, Candidates, Other possible candidates
Vladimír Remek was offered presidential nomination by Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia. He rejected his own party's offer.


2013 Czech presidential election, Primaries, Civic Democratic Party (ODS)
Civic Democratic Party held primary elections to decide who will become party's candidate. Primaries were held from end of April 2012 to 28 June 2012. Vice-Chairman of Senate Přemysl Sobotka faced MEP Evžen Tošenovský. Sobotka received 61% of votes and won party's nomination. Primaries suffered of low voter turnout.


2013 Czech presidential election, Primaries, Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD)
Czech Social Democratic Party held primaries in May 2012. The primaries were indirect, with only members of the party's Central Executive Committee able to vote. Jiří Dienstbier Jr. was expected to face Jan Švejnar. Švejnar withdrawn from primaries before voting took place and Dienstbier received the nomination on 19 May 2012.


2013 Czech presidential election, Primaries, Party of Free Citizens (Svobodní)
The Party of Free Citizens held presidential primaries in June 2012. Ladislav Jakl, the secretary of President Václav Klaus, was the only candidate. Jakl received 88% of votes and won the nomination but the party failed to gather enough signatures and Jakl could not participate in the election.