Czech President Zeman asks PM Babis for 2nd time to form new govt

24 Jan, 2018 11:56 / Updated 6 years ago

Czech President Milos Zeman on Wednesday asked Prime Minister Andrej Babis for a second time to try to form a new government. Last week, a minority government Babis set up in December lost a confidence vote in parliament. The billionaire businessman and leader of the anti-establishment ANO party, which won last October’s election, has struggled to find ruling partners as he faces charges of fraud in tapping an EU subsidy 10 years ago. He denies any wrongdoing. Zeman accepted Babis’s resignation on Wednesday but then immediately asked him to form another government, giving him a political mandate to negotiate with other parties, Reuters said.