Czech opposition initiates no-confidence vote in Babis government

Czech opposition parties have initiated a no-confidence vote in the government led by Prime Minister Andrej Babis over the draft state budget for 2027.

The opposition has collected signatures from all its MPs to convene an extraordinary session of the lower house of parliament, Caliber.Az reports, citing Bloomberg.

However, Babis’ coalition holds 108 of the 200 seats, allowing it to block the government’s dismissal.

This week, the cabinet reduced its projected budget deficit from 389 billion to 386 billion korunas ($18 billion). The government says the higher deficit is necessary to increase investment and spending on infrastructure, healthcare and defence.

Babis claims that the Czech Republic can afford to relax budgetary discipline due to its relatively low level of public debt.

Parliament Speaker Tomio Okamura is expected to convene the session shortly, with the no-confidence debate expected to take place next week.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov