Mirek Topolanek's new cabinet to face confidence vote on Friday

The centre-right coalition cabinet of Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek faces a crucial vote of confidence on Friday which it hopes will end a seven-month period without a stable government resulting from inconclusive elections. The governing coalition of the Civic Democrats, the Christian Democrats and the Green Party has exactly 100 votes in the 200-seat lower house but two MPs from the Social Democratic Party had agreed to enable the government to win Friday's vote by not taking part in it.

This is the second chance for Mr Topolanek to form a cabinet after his first minority Civic Democrat government failed a confidence vote in October. The coalition government has set itself an ambitious series of targets, such as to reform public spending and the pension and healthcare systems, but it is unlikely to find majority support for its goals in the chamber.