Lower house to open debate ahead of confidence vote on Babiš cabinet
The Chamber of Deputies will begin debating a vote of confidence in the three-party coalition cabinet on Tuesday. Given the high number of MPs seeking to speak in the debate, the vote itself is expected no earlier than Wednesday evening. The new cabinet, led by Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO), is widely expected to win the confidence vote.
The confidence vote will take place less than a month after the three-party government of ANO, SPD and the Motorists’ party was appointed to office and is expected to be plain sailing for the new administration which has a 108-seat-majority in the lower house.
However, the debate preceding the vote is expected to take up the better part of two days. Prime Minister Andrej Babis, will officially ask the house for a confidence vote and outline the government’s policy program. All ministers are expected to take the floor to present their portfolio and priorities in office. The opposition parties, which have been highly critical of the new government, will also have their say. A large number of them have already stated their intention to take the floor.
Among the topics that are expected to be the focus of attention are the 2026 budget which the new government is re-working, security issues linked to the Russian aggression in Ukraine and the Czech ammunition initiative, which the government has pledged to continue but will no longer contribute to.
While the coalition nominally controls 108 seats in the 200-seat lower house, it is not certain that all MPs for the ruling coalition will back the government. While ANO and the Motorists’ votes are, according to their leaders, certain, the continuation of the ammunition initiative has become a point of contention for the SPD –which is made up of several political groupings- and at least one MP for the party has indicated that he has a problem backing the ruling coalition. A number of MPs are unhappy about the fact that the ammunition initiative will continue even if the Czech Republic will no longer directly support it.
SPD leader Tomio Okamura, who also wanted the initiative scrapped, stressed the need for this compromise, saying that he was confident that his party’s MPs would understand and accept this priority.
“We know that this is a compromise that we had to make. This government is only starting its term in office and there are many draft laws in the pipeline that we want to push through – laws that will give Czech citizens a better life and more money.”
Unity in the ranks of the ruling coalition ahead of the vote was reported to be one of the points on the agenda of Monday’s cabinet meeting and Prime Minister Babiš took the time to meet with MPs for SPD ahead of the vote on Tuesday to further address their concerns.
The majority coalition of ANO, SPD and the Motorists’ party holds 108 seats in the 200-seat lower house. Opposition groups—Civic Democrats, Mayors and Independents, the Pirate Party, Christian Democrats and TOP 09—hold 92 seats in total. To pass the confidence motion the cabinet only needs the support of a majority of MPs present.
The Chamber of Deputies will convene on Tuesday at 11 a.m. CET and lower house speaker, Tomio Okamura, expects the vote of confidence to take place in the early evening on Wednesday.
