Czechs take to streets against PM
PRAGUE: Thousands of Czechs have rallied to call for the resignation of Prime Minister Andrej Babis, who is battling police charges and lacks parliamentary backing for his Government.
Nearly six months after an election Babis’ ANO party won by a large margin, the billionaire businessman is still seeking partners to govern, and heads a caretaker minority cabinet after losing a confidence vote in January.
Coalition talks with the Social Democrats broke down last week in a spat over the allocation of ministries, and Babis did not say what he would do next before meeting President Milos Zeman yesterday.
Most other parties have shunned Babis due to an alleged fraud of European Union subsidies worth ¤2 million ($NZ3.36 million) a decade ago. He denies wrongdoing.
Several thousand protested on Prague’s Wenceslas Square on Monday, according to news agency CTK’s estimates, and more than 2000 rallied in Brno, the country’s secondlargest city. Police did not provide official estimates. Protests took place in other cities and towns.
Protest organisers say someone facing criminal charges should not lead the Government.
Besides the subsidy case, Slovakborn Babis has also fought to be cleared of a charge of cooperating with the communistera secret police, a demand rejected by a court in Slovakia earlier this year.
Thousands protested in March against a communist lawmaker being named head of a police oversight commission despite his past in a communistera special unit. ANO has held talks with the Communist Party over support for a new govern ment, and the protesters took aim at Babis.
On Monday, Babis told newspaper Lidove Noviny he would agree to another candidate from his ANO party leading a new government if proposed by President Zeman, but he did not expect such a move now.
His antiestablishment party, pledging to fight political graft and bring a business touch to government, won nearly three times as many votes as its nearest rival in last October’s election, but lacks a majority in parliament.
Besides the Social Democrats, ANO could lean on support from the communists and the farright antiEU SPD party. But many ANO party members oppose such cooperation, especially with the SPD.
Markets have largely shrugged off the political stalemate. — Reuters