President Klaus launches talks with party leaders

On Monday, President Václav Klaus met leaders of all five parties that made it into the lower house to talk about the formation of the next government. The leader of the TOP 09 party, Karel Schwarzenberg, informed Mr Klaus of the progress of coalition talks between his party and the Civic Democrats, which he said were going very well. The acting leader of the Social Democrats, Bohuslav Sobotka, said that while he is not convinced that his party would be able to succeed in forming a government, he still believes that, in line with tradition, the winning party should be given the first chance to form a government. The leader of the Civic Democrats, Petr Nečas, expressed his wish to form a coalition of fiscal responsibility with the TOP 09 and the Public Affairs parties.

Even though the Social Democrats gained the most votes and seats in elections to the lower house, their chances of creating a viable coalition seem slim. It is now up to the Czech president to decide who will get the first chance to put together a government. Mr Klaus has not yet made any statements regarding when he is planning to announce a decision.