Vladimir Spidla steps down as prime minister, cabinet to resign Wednesday

In an extremely dramatic day in Czech politics, Vladimir Spidla has resigned as leader of the Social Democratic Party and as Czech prime minister. Mr Spidla announced his decision just hours after he had narrowly survived a vote of no confidence in him as leader of the Social Democrats.

Though opponents of Mr Spidla had fallen six votes short of the three-fifths majority necessary to remove him, a simple majority of delegates at Saturday's meeting of the party's central committee had voted against him.

The low level of support for him in the party is believed to be the reason Mr Spidla decided to step down after two years as prime minister. The cabinet is expected to resign on Wednesday.

Vladimir Spidla's fate had been uncertain since the Social Democrats did badly in recent elections to the European Parliament, and he had rejected pressure from within the party to step down as leader while remaining in the position of prime minister.