Czech Government Enters Crucial Weekend

WSJ: This weekend will be crucial for Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas as he seeks to keep together the fragile three-party coalition government that is in danger of falling apart.

On Friday, Mr. Necas called for support from at least 10 former coalition lawmakers of the Public Affairs party as the survival of his right-of-center government hangs in balance before crucial talks on its future Sunday. “If by Monday at the latest I don’t have a clear confirmation that our government has a secure majority, the proper way to solve this situation is to hold early parliamentary elections in June,” Mr. Necas said.

 

General elections are currently scheduled in 2014.

The government crisis was triggered earlier this week by the collapse of Public Affairs, the smallest member of the coalition, when Karolina Peake, a deputy prime minister and deputy chairperson of Public Affairs, left the party.

Ms. Peake said she was fed up with the party’s habit of issuing ultimatums to the coalition partners. Yet the move comes only days after Vit Barta, formerly the party’s parliamentary caucus leader and main financial sponsor, was found guilty of corruption and sentenced on April 13. It was the first time in over a decade a Czech politician in office had been found guilty of corruption.

“If the solution [to the political crisis] isn’t found and early elections are called, this risks challenging the government commitment to fiscal reforms and hence increasing sovereign risk premia,” Aurelija Augulyte, an analyst at Nordea bank, wrote in a research note.

The Sunday talks will take place after anti-austerity protests led by the country’s main unions and several protest groups on Saturday. The conservative Civic Democratic Party, led by Mr. Necas, and the centrist TOP-09 party of Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek, have only 94 votes in the 200-seat lower house of parliament. Before its collapse, Public Affairs had 20 lawmakers.

“No wafer-thin majorities of 101 or 102 members make any sense,” Mr. Necas said, adding that he wants to get backing from at least 10 Public Affairs defectors, led by Ms. Peake, whose s faction currently has seven members.

Ms. Peake couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.