CZECH REPUBLIC: The Czech government of Civic Democrat leader Mirek Topolanek stood down yesterday, leaving the country rudderless four months after elections and drifting towards a new ballot, writes Daniel McLaughlin.
Mr Topolanek and his centre-right cabinet resigned after failing to win a vote of approval in parliament.
The parliament was split down the middle by June elections in which right- and left-leaning parties took 100 seats each.
"We should all now wish to have a strong government . . . a trustworthy government," Mr Topolanek said after handing his resignation to President Vaclav Klaus, adding that "the fastest way to getting such a cabinet is an early election".
Mr Klaus asked ministers to continue to perform the basic tasks of running the state until a new government could be formed and approved by the fractious legislature.
"I accept your government's resignation," Mr Klaus said, noting that the dissolution of the fourth cabinet during his 3½ years in office "says something about our political situation and the division of political forces".
Mr Klaus said he would nominate another prime minister after elections to local councils and the upper house of parliament in late October.
With the parliament bitterly divided, Mr Klaus is believed to favour the appointment of a non-aligned "government of experts" that would run the country until a new round of elections could be held.
Analysts say Mr Klaus is unwilling to nominate Social Democrat leader Jiri Paroubek - the former centre-left prime minister who lost the June election - because he would rely on communist support in parliament.
Mr Paroubek claims to have secured the necessary 101 seats in the assembly by persuading an unnamed centre-right MP to defect, and his party is pressing the conservative Mr Klaus to give leftists a chance to form a new cabinet.
"We assume the president of the republic will really behave impartially," said Bohuslav Sobotka, deputy chairman of the Social Democrats.
"If he nominated another Civic Democrat representative, this could provoke great speculation about whether the president behaves strictly in accordance with the constitution, and if he stands above the parties."
If Mr Klaus' next nomination for prime minister also fails to win approval, the constitution grants the right to choose a third nominee to the speaker of parliament, who is a Social Democrat. After three failed attempts, early elections can be called.
Mr Paroubek's cause has not been helped by a scandal surrounding this week's arrest of a former aide for alleged embezzlement of EU funds.