Czech President Petr Fiala appoints new prime minister as coalition leader | Politics News

Fiala leads a five-party bloc and controls 108 seats in the lower house of the 200-member parliament.

The next coalition government leader Petr Fiala has been named the new prime minister of the Czech Republic in an extraordinary ceremony, and COVID-jota President Milos Zeman speaks from behind a plastic fence.

Fiala will face the urgent task of confronting one of the world Highest COVID infection rates, Including the case of the new Omicron variant.

“I am confident that we will soon have a strong and stable government,” Fiala said at Sunday’s ceremony.

Zeman said he plans to end meetings with potential ministers by Dec. 13 “and then we can prepare for the government’s appointment.”

Fiala joined forces with two smaller parties in his Civic Democratic Party last month to form an alliance with Elkarrekin. general election.

This group, which includes centrist Christian Democrats and the center-right TOP 09 party, roughly overtook the ANO movement of populist billionaire Prime Minister Andrej Babis.

Five parties have come together

Since then alliances he formed a coalition with two centrist parties – the Mayor and the Independents, and the Pirate Party – to get a majority of 108 votes in a 200-seat parliament.

The five parties have agreed on the composition and policy statement of the future government.

The post-election talks were conducted without a 77-year-old president, who was taken to hospital by ambulance on October 10, the day after the election, to be treated for liver problems.

Zeman, a leftist with soft ties to Russia and China, was initially expected to appoint Fiala prime minister on Friday, leaving the military hospital in Prague a day later.

But he was taken to hospital the same day after being tested positive for COVID. Zeman was discharged again on Saturday.

Under the Czech constitution, Zeman is also due to appoint a government, and Fiala says it should be done by mid-December.

The EU state with a population of 10.7 million is dealing with a record COVID-19 infection.

The rise led the outgoing government to announce new cuts on Thursday, with restaurants, bars and nightclubs closed at night, as well as all Christmas markets.

But observers say more drastic measures would be needed.

Eastern hospitals are running out of capacity and some have begun transporting patients to facilities that are not crowded elsewhere in the country.

The Czech Republic is also struggling with unprecedented rising energy prices and rising inflation, and many people have entered into uncertainty before Christmas.