Coalition leaders: ANO no-confidence vote call linked to presidential election

Czech coalition leaders say an ANO call for a vote of no-confidence in the government is linked to the campaign of the party leader, Andrej Babiš, for president. Deputy Prime Minister Ivan Bartoš of the Pirate Party said the proposed vote was intended to seize media space between the first and second rounds of the presidential election on the assumption that Mr. Babiš will reach the run-off.

Deputy Prime Minister Marian Jurečka of the Christian Democrats said senior ANO MP Alena Schillerová had said only a month ago that the party would not call a no-confidence vote and he did not see what had changed in the interim.

The coalition government has a solid majority in the lower house, meaning such a vote would be highly unlikely to pass.