News

The CTK news agency reports that the Social Democratic Party might be facing bankruptcy. Prague lawyer Zdenek Altner says he has filed a bankruptcy petition saying the party owes him 18 billion crowns (or 850 million US dollars) for his services in a legal dispute over the ownership of the party's Prague headquarters. The amount demanded includes interest and sanctions. The party has not commented on the report.

Czech Television and the internet news server Aktualne.cz have reported that Czech fugitive billionaire Radovan Krejcir was detained in the Seychelles for illegal arms possession but was later released. Radovan Krejcir fled the Czech Republic in 2005 to avoid prosecution in a number of criminal cases, including conspiracy for murder. He has lived with his family in the Seychelles ever since.

The Social Democratic Party has called on two rebel MPs to give up their mandates in the lower house. The party took the step a day after deputies Milos Melcak and Michal Pohanka confirmed they would allow the country's newly-appointed government a chance of winning Friday's confidence vote. The deputies appeared alongside the prime minister in a surprise press conference on Tuesday, saying that their main motive was to bring an end to the country's prolonged political crisis. Both confirmed they would absent themselves from Friday's vote, theoretically tipping the scales in the government's favour. In return they gained a number of concessions including a promise by Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek that his cabinet would consult with the opposition on major reforms.

The Social Democrats immediately expressed anger over the developments: party leader Jiri Paroubek has called the men "traitors" and warned his party would file lawsuits against them on the suspicion of corruption.

The session of the lower house formally lasted just fifteen minutes on Wednesday with Social Democrat MP Miloslav Vlcek staying on for the time being as the chamber's speaker. Originally, the Social Democrats had hoped to pave the way for Mr Vlcek's resignation and subsequent re-election ahead of Friday's confidence vote. Mr Vlcek is bound by a public promise he made to step down ahead of a possible third attempt to form a government. His subsequent re-election would have guaranteed that as speaker he would have been responsible for appointing the next prime minister designate, in the event that the government's failed to secure a majority.

As it stands now the current coalition led by the Civic Democrats is now expected to win its confidence vote on Friday. It is unclear how long Mr Vlcek will now remain as speaker of the lower house, or whether the Social Democrats will push for their leader Jiri Paroubek to replace him.