Lower house again fails to elect chairman

The lower house of the Czech Parliament has again failed to elect its chairman. The only candidate, Christian Democrat MP Jan Kasal running for the emerging centre-right coalition, did not receive enough support in the chamber on Friday morning. He received 100 votes in the 200-member lower house which is evenly split between the leftist and the centre-right parties after the June national election.

The lower house will meet again next Friday. New candidates for the post of chairman are to be nominated by Wednesday. Before the lower house elects a chairman, the government of Prime Minister Paroubek cannot resign.