PRAGUE: The Czech centre-right government agreed to resign, Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Thursday, a formal step to handing over power to a new cabinet being formed by populist billionaire Andrej Babis after his October election victory.
The outgoing cabinet remains in office until Babis’ team are formally appointed, which is not expected for several more weeks. Fiala was scheduled to hand in the government’s resignation to President Petr Pavel later on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Czech far-right leader Tomio Okamura won the post of speaker of the lower house in a vote on Wednesday, the first appointment of populist billionaire Andrej Babis’s newly formed coalition with fringe right-wing groups.
The vote was a key step in forming a new government following a parliamentary election won by Babis’s ANO party a month ago.
The outgoing centre-right government of Prime Minister Petr Fiala is required to hand in its resignation following the speaker’s election, which it will do on Thursday. But it will stay in office until a new administration is in place. – Reuters
