Postal vote bill passes first reading in lower house

The lower house of Czech parliament voted on Thursday afternoon to support a government coalition proposal to allow postal voting in elections for Czechs living abroad in the bill's first reading. The opposition's proposals to reject the amendment or return it to the government for redrafting were both rejected. It will now go to the Constitutional-Legal and Foreign Affairs Committees for discussion.

The debate over postal voting lasted for six days due to filibustering by the opposition, taking approximately 63.5 hours. The coalition eventually set a fixed time of 3pm on Thursday for voting to take place.