Czech Republic may hold early elections as political uncertainty continues
Anna Sonny, 9 August 2013
After the scandal which saw the disgraced Petr Necas step down as Prime Minister and leader of the centre-right coalition in June, political uncertainty in the Czech Republic continues after President Milos Zeman failed to win support for his new cabinet.
Concern about the political crisis increased when Zeman, who won the country’s first ever direct presidential election, decided to take matters into his own hands by appointing one of his own confidants as Prime Minister. Despite opposition from the coalition that had been headed by Necas, and their nomination of Miroslava Nemcova as the new candidate for the premiership, Zeman instead appointed Jiri Rusnok, who has previously served him as finance minister, and swore in a new cabinet last month.
After being accused of by-passing parliament to extend his grip of power on Czech politics by bringing his close circle into government, Zeman was unable to garner support from the coalition and the new government unsurprisingly lost the no confidence vote on Wednesday by 93 to 100 after an 11 hour debate.
What will happen next is unclear. The vote had to be held within 30 days of the cabinet being sworn in, but under the constitution, the president is allowed a second chance to appoint a Prime Minister and it was thought that Zeman might attempt to delay the process and keep Rusnok in charge with his caretaker administration until the next elections.
The right-wing TOP 09 party, however, called for the parliament to dissolve itself after the vote on Wednesday; an extraordinary session of the Chamber of Deputies has been called for to discuss this and is likely to take place next week. Under the constitution, elections must be held within 60 days of parliament dissolving itself, which may bring voting forward to October this year.
It is hoped that Zeman’s moves to grab power by undermining parliamentary democracy will not further damage the Czech Republic’s political reputation in Europe; political stability for the country still looks unlikely for now.