Czech president to swear in new government on Friday

PRAGUE (AP) — The president of the Czech Republic is set to swear in the country’s new government on Friday.

The prime minister-designate Petr Fiala announced President Milos Zeman’s decision to appoint his 18-member Cabinet after visiting the head of state at the presidential chateaux in Lany, west of Prague, on Monday.

Two coalitions that collected a majority of support in the Oct 8-9 vote have signed a power-sharing deal to rule together led by Fiala as the premier, and he was sworn in on Nov 28.

A three-party, liberal-conservative coalition known as Together, composed of the Civic Democratic Party, the Christian Democrats and the TOP 09 party, led the election with a 27.8% share of the vote. Together teamed up with a center-left liberal coalition made up of the Pirate Party and STAN — a group of mayors and independent candidates — which came in third place with 15.6% of votes.

The new partnership holds 108 seats in the 200-seat lower house of Parliament, relegating populist Prime Minister Andrej Babis and his centrist ANO (YES) movement to the opposition. Babis narrowly lost the election with 27.1%.

The five parties in the future governing coalition are closer to the European Union than the euroskeptic Babis.