Czech government survives no confidence motion - Summary

Tue, 21 Dec 2010

Prague - The Czech Republic's three-party, center-right government of Prime Minister Petr Necas on Tuesday survived a no- confidence motion in Parliament, initiated over a corruption scandal less than half a year into its rule.

Needing at least 101 votes, the Cabinet won the vote by 113-80, overcoming its first crisis, which was triggered by a junior coalition party that for days kept its partners on tenterhooks on its voting intentions.

The Public Affairs party pledged to back the cabinet only hours before the vote, after President Vaclav Klaus brokered a deal between quarreling coalition partners in a bid to salvage planned public- finance reforms.

"We do not want to be destructive," said the party's head Radek John after a meeting Klaus had called earlier Tuesday at the Prague Castle.

Officials have so far kept mum on the deal's details.

The no-confidence motion, initiated last week by the opposition Social Democrats, and the bickering in the Cabinet were sparked by a corruption scandal that led to the resignation of environment minister Pavel Drobil.

The scandal is seen as a blow to the credibility of the austerity- minded Cabinet, which has vowed to fight corruption.

According to a newspaper report last week, an adviser to Drobil asked an official to help manipulate tenders and banking decisions in a bid to raise money for Drobil's future political career.

When the official, who had taped the conversations, showed resistance, Drobil offered him a high-level ministry post in exchange for destroying the tapes, the Mlada Fronta Dnes daily reported.

In his initial reaction, Necas backed Drobil and slammed the whistleblower, frustrating voters who hoped that his team would take a hard line against corruption.

"(Necas') defense of this minister has really disappointed me," Czech former president Vaclav Havel said in a newspaper interview.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/359247,confidence-motion-summary.html.