1This study looks at the role of the Federal Assembly in the Velvet Revolution. With the disintegration of the communist party, the Federal Assembly became unexpectedly a key constitutional institution with far reaching powers in times of rapid political change. The revolutionary movement Civic Forum forced through a legislation that enabled to recall substantial part of the members of the parliament and replace them by its own candidates through co-optation. This method of “cleansing” of the parliament had far-reaching consequences for the post-November Czechoslovak political culture.

2Keywords: Czechoslovakia 1989-1990, Parliamentarism, The Federal Assembly, Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia