Lower house fails to elect new speaker

The only candidate for the post of speaker of the lower house of parliament, Miroslava Nemcova, has not been elected in the second round of secret balloting. Just like in the first round, she was three votes short of gaining a majority of votes. Mrs Nemcova was proposed for the post by the Civic Democratic Party. It appears that at least one MP from one of the party's two coalition partners, the Christian Democrats or the Greens, voted against Mrs Nemcova's election.

Deputies, who have a maximum of ten days to hold a third round of voting, will reportedly not cast their votes before next week Friday.

Author: Dita Asiedu