Ivan Bartoš Confirmed that Pirate Party is Leaving the Government

The move angered the Pirate Party, whose three cabinet ministers had included Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky.

“The Pirates are leaving the cabinet, or better, they have been ousted,” dreadlocked former IT expert Bartos told reporters.

This will likely reduce the backing for Fiala’s cabinet in the 200-seat parliament from 108 to 104 votes as the Pirates have four lawmakers in the lower house.

Bartos’s dismissal has yet to be approved by President Petr Pavel, who was at the UN General Assembly in New York with Lipavsky.

Lipavsky said he would submit his resignation but also quit the Pirate Party, which would allow him to stay on as minister, possibly as an independent.

The coalition, also comprising Fiala’s Civic Democrats, the small rightwing TOP 09 and centrist STAN and Christian Democrats parties, took power after a 2021 election.

Grappling with fallout from the pandemic, high inflation sparked by the Ukraine war as well as recent floods, the coalition has lost voter support.

The government of the country of 10.9 million people has also come under fire for what voters see as too extensive humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine.

It faces stiff opposition from the centrist populist ANO movement of former billionaire prime minister Andrej Babis, whose opinion poll backing exceeds 30 percent.

Last weekend, ANO won in 10 out of 13 Czech regions in a regional election seen as a lithmus test ahead of a general election in 2025.

Would you like us to write about your business? Find out more