Zeman party deputy chairman to head Office of the Government

Jiří Rusnok’s caretaker cabinet has named Radek Augustin head of the Office of the Government. Mr. Augustin is the deputy chairman and the head of the Olomouc branch of President Miloš Zeman’s Party of Citizens’ Rights (SPOZ). He will be replacing Lubomír Poul, who was arrested in June along with the then prime minister’s chief-of-staff Jana Nagyová, as a possible witness to illegal spying. Mr. Poul was later released without charges. Commenting on the current government’s choice for the head of its office, the chairwoman of the lower house of parliament Miroslava Němcová said that it is clear that Zeman’s government is trying to give Zeman’s party all the support it needs for the next parliamentary elections.