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At least 270,000 people in Czechia are homeless or living in emergency housing, overcrowded flats or in buildings that are either without water or have extensive mold, according to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Czech Radio reported on Sunday.

The ministry estimates the total number of homeless people in Czechia to lie at around 12,000. Meanwhile, close to 6,000 individuals are living in emergency housing.

The government is expected to discuss the introduction of a new law on housing support in the second half of next year. The proposal, prepared by the Labour Ministry and the Ministry for Regional Development, counts among other things on the setting up of a one-off financial support benefit to people at risk of losing their current home.

Prime Minister Petr Fiala told Czech Television on Sunday that he will ask Deputy Premier and Agriculture Minister Marian Jurečka to remain in the position of acting Minister for the Environment until the end of this year.

Mr Jurečka took over the position in October, after fellow Christian Democrat Anna Hubáčková resigned from the position for health reasons.

The party has already proposed a replacement for Ms Hubáčková in the form of Brno’s Deputy Mayor Petr Hladík. However, Mr Hladík’s office was raided by the police as part of an investigation into an alleged corruption case related to the assigning of city apartments in Brno. Although the candidate is not facing any charges, the Czech prime minister said that he does not intend to name someone who will be forced to explain their involvement in ambiguities instead of fully focusing on his department. If no issues arise, Mr Fiala said he will then be ready to name the Christian Democrat candidate.

Saturday afternoon saw a demonstration against the current government on Prague’s Letná plain. According to police spokesman Jan Daněk the demonstration, which was organized by a group called the National recovery council, was attended by hundreds of people.

Protestors called for lower energy and food prices as well as for bringing down inflation. Aside from wanting the resignation of the Petr Fiala led cabinet, the leadership of the largest Czech energy conglomerate ČEZ and of the Energy Regulatory Office, the demonstrators also called for lowering energy prices to EUR 100 per Megawatt hour with Czech electricity only being sold on the local state market. Anti-US slogans could also be seen on the banners displayed by the protestors, Czech Television reports.

Speaking to the same TV network on Sunday, Prime Minister Petr Fiala ruled out any further lowering of energy price caps.

Karel Diviš, Karel Janeček, Tomáš Březina and Pavel Zítko, all men who intend to run for the office of President of Czechia but were deemed by the Ministry of Interior not to have fulfilled the requirements have announced that they will appeal the decision to the Supreme Administrative Court. It is the standard procedure in such a situation.

Each candidate was required to have fulfilled one of three conditions. Namely to hand in verifiable signatures of either 10 senators, 20 members of the Chamber of Deputies, or 50,000 signatures from ordinary citizens supporting their candidacy.

Karel Diviš lacked just 116 signatures to pass the threshold and says that he has a sufficient number that he chose not to hand in to cover this difference. Meanwhile, Karel Janeček handed in over 73,000 signatures, but only 48,091 were verified by the ministry. Mr Březina missed the threshold by more than 4,000 verified signatures but told Czech Television that he will appeal. The tv station reported on Saturday that an appeal will also be made by Pavel Zítko.