Czech president set to appoint new government in coming days

PRAGUE: Czech president Milos Zeman said on Sunday he may appoint a new two-party cabinet on Tuesday or Wednesday following eight months of political instability after last October´s election.

Prime Minister Andrej Babis, leader of the centrist ANO party, has negotiated a coalition with the centre-left Social Democrats, and the path to forming a cabinet opened on Friday after a compromise on personnel.

Zeman told daily Blesk in an online interview that he saw no reason for delay after meeting ministerial candidates on Monday. The last hurdle to forming a government was Zeman´s rejection of Social Democrat candidate Miroslav Poche for foreign minister, saying he was not sufficiently opposed to accepting migrants. The seat may remain unfilled temporarily. The government would have just 93 seats in the 200-seat lower house of parliament and would have to rely on support from deputies from the far-left, pro-Russian Communist Party to survive a vote of confidence every new administration must call within a month of its appointment.