MP elected to lower house on ANO ticket quits party

MP David Pražák has announced his decision to leave government leaders ANO. In a statement on social media on Tuesday evening, he said he would remain an unaffiliated MP in the Chamber of Deputies. This means the governing coalition now has a majority of 107 in the 200-seat lower house.

Mr. Pražák said he had made the move for personal reasons and because of the encroachment of national politics into regional affairs. He said the manner in which the first reading of a bill to change the funding of Czech Television and Czech Radio took place in the Chamber of Deputies had been a factor in his decision, albeit not a decisive one.

He is the first MP to leave the party whose ticket they were elected on during the term of the current government.