Government Of Czech Prime Minister Babiš Wins Confidence Vote

PRAGUE, Jan 16 (Bernama-dpa) -- Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and his new government won a mandatory confidence vote in parliament on Thursday, one month after taking office, German Press Agency (dpa) reported. 

Lawmakers approved the right-leaning cabinet by 108 votes to 91.

The governing coalition includes Babiš' right-wing populist ANO party, the Motorists' Party, and the far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) Party. Under the Czech constitution, any newly appointed government must seek a confidence vote within 30 days.

The vote followed a more-than-25-hour debate in the lower house, during which the opposition accused the coalition of shielding its members from prosecution. Babiš faces investigations over suspected subsidy fraud, while SPD founder and parliamentary speaker Tomio Okamura is under scrutiny for alleged hate speech. Both enjoy parliamentary immunity. 

Another point of contention was the government's shift away from the strong support for Ukraine that characterised the previous administration.

Babiš emphasised that the Czech Republic and its citizens were his top priority. He pledged faster deportation of criminal foreign nationals and rejected adopting the euro. He also criticised European Union (EU) climate policies as harmful to industry. 

On foreign policy, Babiš ruled out Czech participation in any potential peacekeeping mission in Ukraine, saying the Prague-based ammunition initiative to support Ukraine would continue only in a coordinating role, without using Czech taxpayers' money. 

The programme has supplied Kyiv with more than four million rounds of ammunition to date.

-- BERNAMA-dpa