Czech President Milos Zeman had to be hospitalized on Sunday, shortly after meeting the outgoing Prime Minister, his ally the billionaire populist Andrej Babis, who hopes to stay in power despite his narrow loss in the legislative elections.
Read also Czech Republic: defeat in the legislative elections of Prime Minister Andrej Babis, the center-right in the lead
The country has wondered since the announcement of the results which, of Babis with the 27.14% of his party, or of Petr Fiala, whose coalition Together won 27.78% of the vote, would be chosen by the president to lead the next government.
Milos Zeman, who has been ill for some time, began by receiving Andrej Babis on Sunday morning.
But soon after, it was announced that he had to be hospitalized urgently, which left the process of appointing the new government in limbo.
The opposition alliance Ensemble (center-right) would have a majority of 108 seats in Parliament (which has 200 elected representatives) if it formed a larger coalition with the anti-system Pirate Party and the centrist Mayors and Independents movement. (STAN).
Together, which brings together the Civic Democratic Party (right), TOP 09 (center-right) and the Christian Democratic Union (center), obtained 27.78% of the vote, a breath in front of the populist movement ANO of Andrej Babis (27 , 14%).
At first, the partial results published by the official electoral site had given the outgoing Prime Minister comfortably in the lead, according to the polls.
But the gap then melted and the result changed with the counting of the ballots of the big cities, to create a final surprise.
The leader of Ensemble, Petr Fiala, positioned himself on Saturday evening to form the next government, declaring to have a “
strong
”
mandate
.
"
The president will have to take this into account,
" he insisted.
Constitutionally, it is up to the president to designate the new Prime Minister.
However, before the election, Milan Zeman he had hinted that he would choose Andrej Babis.
Sick, this pro-Russian president forced to vote from home met Andrej Babis for informal talks on Sunday morning, before a more official meeting scheduled for Wednesday, according to his entourage.
Read alsoAndrej Babis, the "Czech Trump", accused of conflict of interest linked to European funds
The head of state also assured that he would give a mandate to gather a majority to a party leader, and not to a coalition leader.
"
I do not see many reasons why he would do something else,
" corroborated to AFP Tomas Lebeda, an analyst at Palacky University in Olomouc, in the east of the country.
"
We will see what the president says,
" said Mr. Babis.
"
I am a manager, my place is in government,
" he also insisted before journalists.
