Civic Democrats decide on a coalition negotiation team

The right-of-centre Civic Democrats have decided that the chairman of the party, Mirek Topolanek, and his two deputies, Petr Necas and Pavel Bem, will head the negotiations about the formation of a new government. Mirek Topolanek has said that his aim is to form a coalition with the Christian Democrats and the Greens, and this in the quickest timeframe possible. However, this will not be easy, given that such a coalition would have exactly 100 seats in the 200-seat lower house.

On Monday morning President Vaclav Klaus formally entrusted the leader of the Civic Democrats, Mirek Topolanek, with the task of forming a new government. The Civic Democrats won the largest share of the vote in the weekend's general elections, earning 81 seats.

The Social Democrats - the biggest party in the current government - won 74 seats, while the Communists have 26, the Christian Democrats 13 and the Greens 6 seats.