The Czech coalition government led by Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) has survived a vote of no confidence in the Chamber of Deputies, following an opposition attempt to bring down the cabinet. The motion failed to secure the required majority.
The no-confidence initiative was triggered by a political dispute involving President Petr Pavel and Foreign Minister Petr Macinka, who also heads the Motorists for Themselves party.
Tensions escalated after President Pavel accused Macinka of attempting to pressure him over the appointment of Filip Turek, the party’s honorary president, as minister of the environment.
On January 28th, representatives of all five opposition parties announced they had collected the necessary 81 signatures to call an extraordinary session of parliament.
The opposition argued that Prime Minister Babiš failed to clearly condemn Macinka’s actions or clarify whether the foreign minister continued to have his confidence.
The parliamentary debate lasted two days and ran for approximately 22.5 hours. When the vote was held, 84 lawmakers supported the motion, well short of the 101 votes required to remove the government.
