Czech President Petr Pavel believes it is premature to instruct anyone to form a government after the October 4 elections for the Chamber of Deputies (lower house) of the country's parliament, Irozhlas reported.
“It is still premature to instruct anyone to form a new government“, the president said, commenting on the progress of consultations on forming a cabinet with the leaders of the political forces that won seats in parliament.
According to him, the order to form a cabinet only makes sense after the plan for forming a government is clear, which could receive the support of the Chamber of Deputies. “This is still a long way off“, Pavel said.
Czech media reported earlier that the inaugural session of the new Chamber of Deputies is scheduled for early November. “This will give political parties enough space for negotiations“, the Czech leader noted. Among other things, the parliamentary parties must decide which of their representatives will take up positions in the government and the leadership of the Chamber of Deputies.
Meanwhile, Czech media predict that the task of forming a cabinet will be entrusted to Andrej Babis, former Czech Prime Minister and chairman of ANO (Action of Dissatisfied Citizens), the most successful political movement in the elections. He has already started negotiations on the future government with the political movements SPD (Freedom and Direct Democracy) and Motoristé (Motorists). These political forces together hold 108 of the 200 seats in the lower house.
Commenting on the progress of negotiations with potential partners to the Idnes news portal, Babis expressed the opinion that if they are successfully concluded, the post of speaker of the Chamber of Deputies could be taken by a representative of the SPD. He also categorically ruled out the possibility of ANO giving up the post of health minister if a coalition government is formed. “We will not give up health care for anyone. This is an absolute priority for us“, the politician said. The movement he leads, he said, intends to deal with the significant problems existing in the republic's health care system as effectively as possible.
According to Babis, ANO, SPD and Motoristé intend to achieve goals that overlap in their programs. This includes providing the country with cheaper energy. "We don't want the euro, we are against the ban on internal combustion engines in the European Union, we insist on technological neutrality, we say 'no' to carbon emissions quotas or the European Green Deal. We want to accelerate the development of transport infrastructure," the politician noted.