He was a Member of the Chamber of Deputies (MP) from 1996 to 2021, and unsuccessfully ran for the premiership in the 2017 election but his Social Democratic Party received only 7% of the vote.

[2] He worked as a dramaturge at Czechoslovak Television in Ostrava.

[3] During the Velvet Revolution in November 1989 he participated in Civic Forum.

[4] Zaorálek was first elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1996 as a member of the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD), becoming the party's vice chairman in 2009.

He lost his seat in the Chamber of Deputies when ČSSD failed to qualify to enter parliament at the 2021 general election.