Czech president ready to name opposition leader prime minister-designate

By Askin Kiyagan and Mehmet Yilmaz

PRAGUE (AA) - The president of the Czech Republic announced Friday that he is prepared to name opposition leader Petr Fiala as prime minister-designate.

Milos Zeman spoke to Frekvence 1 radio from his hospital bed and said he is ready to take steps to form a new government in the wake of general elections that were held in October.

He said the outgoing prime minister and ANO leader Andrej Babis had no interest in trying to form a government since no party in the new lower house was prepared to negotiate.

The two coalition groupings that ran against Babis have already agreed on policy priorities of a future government and negotiated the division of ministerial posts. They are due to sign a coalition agreement on Monday.

The president, who spent nearly four weeks in intensive care at Prague’s Central Military Hospital with an undisclosed condition, was moved to a standard room late Thursday and said he will want to speak with the heads of all the newly-elected parliamentary parties.