President-elect calls for early general election

President-elect Miloš Zeman has called for an early general election to replace the current unpopular government. In an interview for Czech TV just hours after his election to head of state, Mr Zeman said the cabinet of PM Petr Nečas was only supported by 8 percent of Czechs. One of the coalition parties, LIDEM, did not win its mandate in a popular vote, according to the president-elect, and therefore the entire government did not come out from free elections. The call was rejected by leaders of the coalition Civic Democrat and TOP 09 parties who said the government was responsible to Parliament’s lower house, and not the president.

Miloš Zeman, a former Social Democrat prime minister, became the first Czech president elected in a popular vote after he beat Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg in the election’s second round on Saturday.

Author: Jan Richter