Czech government fails to win confidence vote

The right-wing minority Czech government of Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek on Tuesday failed to win a confidence vote in the parliament, the first time a Czech government was given a no-confidence vote since the country was independent in 1993.

Topolanek's month-old government won 96 votes of the 195 lawmakers present at the parliament, forcing it to resign.

After the vote, Topolanek said his short-lived administration will resign as early as Wednesday next week, adding that the reason why he couldn't immediately submit his resignation was because President Vaclav Klaus was currently on an official visit to Asia.

He will try to form a government for a second time through negotiations with all concerned parties, Topolanek added.

Under the Czech constitution, three attempts at forming a government are allowed before early elections are called.

Topolanek was named prime minister on Aug. 16 after President Klaus accepted the resignation of the cabinet led by Social Democrat Jiri Paroubek on the same day.

Source: Xinhua