Can Political Instability Impact the Czech Republic’s Booming Economy?
President Milos Zeman formally designated Andrej Babiš, 63-years-old billionaire, media mogul, and leader of the winning ANO party, to form the next government.
Although ANO (an acronym for “Action of Dissatisfied Citizens” in Czech but is more commonly known as the word for “yes”) received almost 30% of the votes cast in recent elections and will have 78 lawmakers in the 200-seat lower house of the parliament, it is struggling to form a government. Both the mainstream center-right and center-left parties have already ruled out a coalition with Mr. Babiš, arguing they could not join a cabinet led by somebody who repeatedly depicted them as corrupt and incompetent (the irony is, of course, that Babiš is himself facing fraud charges in a case involving a EUR 2 million EU small business subsidy a decade ago).
The ANO leader says he will form a minority government, including experts who are not MPs as possible Ministers. More importantly, even if Babiš loses the confidence vote to secure the office of Prime Minister, the Constitution does not require the dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies (the lower house of Parliament). Indeed, Mr. Zeman, who is a Babiš supporter, has already said that he will not call for snap elections is the vote fails.
Source: Reuters
