PRAGUE (Reuters) - Czech
lawmakers resume debate on Tuesday ahead of a confidence vote on Prime Minister
Andrej
Babis’s minority government that he is likely to lose with the
billionaire businessman fighting allegations of EU subsidy fraud.
Babis’s ANO party won election in
October by a wide margin but short of an absolute majority, with just 78 of 200
seats in the lower house.
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His government is expected to be
rejected by parliament, but stay in office until a new one is formed, possibly
led by him again as he remains popular due to pledges to weed out corruption
and run government with a businessman’s touch.
But his situation could be
complicated by a presidential election that is heading to a tight run-off on
Jan. 26-27, pitting incumbent Milos Zeman, who has backed Babis, against Jiri
Drahos, who has said it would be unacceptable to have a sitting prime minister
who faces criminal charges.
Presidents appoint prime
ministers in the Czech Republic, and Zeman’s first term ends on March 7.
Babis has so far failed to find
coalition partners due to a police investigation into whether he illegally
received a 2 million euro European Union subsidy a decade ago by hiding
ownership of a farm and conference centre.
The lower house unexpectedly
adjourned its session last week to give more time for a parliamentary committee
to make a recommendation on whether to lift Babis’s immunity from prosecution
that he is granted as a member of the chamber.
Babis was handed over to
investigators earlier and charged but the charges were blocked by his
re-election to parliament, which now must decide again whether he is entitled
to immunity.
Babis denies wrongdoing and says
the allegations against him have been fabricated by political and business
opponents.
He is due to appear before
parliament’s immunity committee on Tuesday. Debate in the lower house also
starts although it is uncertain whether the confidence vote would ensue the
same day - it could come later in the week.
Most parties in the Czech lower
house say the government should not be led by a person facing investigation.
Some have wider objections to conflicts of interests Babis has as the founder
of a $4 billion business empire and a top politician.
Babis, however, packs more
popular appeal than rivals. He has pledged to boost infrastructure investment,
reform pensions and digitalise the state to make it more efficient while also
boosting the country’s voice in the EU.
He is the central European
country’s second richest person through the Agrofert conglomerate, which houses
numerous firms in food, farming, chemicals and media.
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