PM confident ahead of no-confidence vote

Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek said on Tuesday he was confident his centre-right government would survive Wednesday’s no-confidence vote in the lower house. Speaking to journalists after a meeting of his party’s leadership, the Civic Democrats chairman said he was certain that rebels in the governing coalition would not assist the opposition in bringing down the government. The Civic Democrat leadership has been debating the party’s strategy in the wake of its humiliating defeat in regional elections last weekend, and Prime Minister Topolánek has urged all non-leftist voters to come to the polls in the second round of Senate elections and back the candidates of one of the governing parties.