Zeman aide: Failure of Rusnok government could be followed by second PM appointed by president

The head of President Zeman’s office, Vratislav Mynář, has said that if the government of Prime Minister Jiří Rusnok fails to win backing in the lower house then the president could appoint a new caretaker head of government. Mr. Mynář made the comments in an interview on Thursday for the news site Aktualne.cz. The parties in the last government are pushing to be allowed to form a new cabinet if that of Mr. Rusnok fails. However, under the constitution the president has two chances to appoint a prime minister; if his second nomination for PM is also unsuccessful, the chair of the Chamber of Deputies can make a nomination. However, there is no deadline within which the president has to remove a prime minister who has failed to pass a confidence vote.