Civic Democrats call on Prime Minister to resign

The opposition Civic Democratic Party has called on Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek to resign from office and open the way for early elections to be held before the end of the year. The move came shortly after the Prime Minister accused the Christian Democrats of the governing coalition of playing ball with the leading right wing opposition party and said that he was ready to agree to early elections if the two parties initiated them. He likewise indicated that the Christian Democrats were free to leave the coalition government.

The crisis between the coalition parties escalated after the coalition Christian Democrats broke ranks to vote with the leading opposition party in support of establishing a parliamentary commission to inquire into suspected corruption during the privatization of the petrochemical group Unipetrol.