Lower house fails to discuss confidence vote

The Chamber of Deputies has failed to discuss the possibility of an eventual confidence vote reconfirming the mandate of the Czech Republic's coalition government, which suffered a major defeat in last weekend's European Parliament elections. The government saw just four elected to a possible twenty-four MP posts. The Social-Democrat-led government is now at a crossroads over how to react to its failure at the most recent polls, with some calling for a cabinet shake up. Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla has himself confirmed he will call for his party's executive committee to reconfirm his and his deputies' mandates on July 11th.

That is not to say the government might not face a vote of "no confidence" in the near future, called by the opposition Civic Democrats. However, at the moment the opposition in the lower house lacks enough votes to bring down the government. The coalition, led by the senior Social Democrats, enjoys a slim majority of 101 in the 200 member chamber.