Early parliamentary 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.

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.

The two parties gaining the most seats were the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) (50 seats) and the new party ANO (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.

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.

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.

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. 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. 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.

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.

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.