Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (1969–1989) After the
Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, liberalisation reforms were stopped and reverted. The only exception was the federalization of the country. The former centralist state Czechoslovakia was divided in two parts: the
Czech Socialist Republic and the
Slovak Socialist Republic by the
Constitutional Law of Federation of 28 October 1968, which went into effect on 1 January 1969. New national parliaments (the
Czech National Council and the
Slovak National Council) were created and the traditional parliament of Czechoslovakia was renamed the "
Federal Assembly" and was divided in two chambers: the
House of the People (, ) and the
House of Nations (, ). Very complicated rules of voting were put in effect.
Czech and Slovak Federative Republic (1990–1992) After the
Velvet Revolution which brought the end of socialism in Czechoslovakia, the word
socialist was dropped from the names of the two republics. Thus, on 6 March 1990 the Czech Socialist Republic was renamed the
Czech Republic (though it was still a part of Czech and Slovak Federative Republic). The complicated system of parliamentary voting (there were
de facto five different bodies each having right of
veto) was kept after the fall of socialism, complicating and delaying political decisions during radical changes in the economy. Later, in 1992, the Czech Republic became an
independent state (see
Dissolution of Czechoslovakia). ==See also==