Czech government survives no-confidence vote in Parliament

The centre-right government of Prime Minister Petr Fiala survived a no-confidence vote in Parliament on Wednesday, less than four months ahead of the country’s general elections. The motion was tabled by the opposition ANO party over a scandal involving a billion-crown bitcoin donation to the Justice Ministry from a man earlier convicted of drug trafficking, embezzlement, and illegal arms possession.

All three opposition parties backed the motion, but did not have enough votes to topple the centre-right coalition government. Of the 192 deputies present, 98 coalition MPs opposed the motion, 94 opposition deputies supported it.

The coalition Mayors and Independents, who criticized the manner in which the prime minister’s Civic Democrats have handled the scandal, supported the Fiala administration on the grounds that the government’s fall would only create political instability ahead of the autumn elections. Two MPs for the Mayors and Independents walked out of the assembly hall ahead of the vote.

The scandal has damaged primarily the Civic Democrats and their coalition partners have been at pains to distance themselves from the affair which resulted in the resignation of the justice minister and which the opposition claims undermined public trust in state institutions and damaged the country’s good name abroad.