Czech government wins vote of confidence

The government of Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla won a vote of confidence in the Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday afternoon, after all the ruling coalition MPs voted in favour of the Czech cabinet. With only a simple majority needed, the coalition's one-vote majority was enough to ensure the confidence vote, meaning that all 101 coalition deputies in the 200-seat lower house voted in favour. The opposition Civic Democrat and Communist deputies voted against. Prime Minister Spidla called the vote after several party members defied him and party colleagues to vote for the opposition candidate Vaclav Klaus during the presidential elections on February 28.