Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) said he would definitely stay in the Parliament, even if his party ended up in opposition.
Before the election, however, he claimed the stated opposite: “If I will not retain power after next weekend’s elections, I’m ready to quit politics”, said Babiš to radio station Frekvence 1.
“I will not give up. I have bad news for you, I will stay in that Parliament. And if we end up in opposition, I’ll be there. And we will follow all those promises of Mr. Fiala. I devoted ten years of my life to my party, I did it for the sake of this country,” he said on Facebook on Sunday.
Babiš now plans to address the ODS for negotiations. “We will see if they want to cooperate or not.”
However, the Pirates and Mayors, together with the SPOLU coalition, agreed on a memorandum on Saturday in which they pledged to attempt to form a government and asked President Zeman to name SPOLU leader Petr Fiala prime minister.
Spolu consists of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), KDU-ČSL, and TOP 09.
FORMING GOVT MAY TAKE MONTHS
Under the constitution, the president can appoint anyone as prime minister and instruct them to nominate a cabinet. A new cabinet must face a vote of confidence in the lower house within a month of its appointment.
Zeman had said prior to the election that he would appoint the leader of the biggest winning individual party, not a coalition, to try to form a government.
This would be Babiš since ANO won the most votes of any party.
Forming a government usually takes weeks or months, and no appointments are possible before the new lower house convenes, sometimes within a month after the election.
Support Prague Morning!
We are proud to provide our readers from around the world with independent, and unbiased news for free.
Our dedicated team supports the local community, foreign residents and visitors of all nationalities through our website, social media and newsletter.
We appreciate that not everyone can afford to pay for our services but if you are able to, we ask you to support Prague Morning by making a contribution – no matter how small 🙂 .