Czech centre-right leader Petr Fiala appointed as new prime minister

Czech center-right opposition leader Petr Fiala has been appointed as the country’s new prime minister on Sunday after October legislative elections ousted billionaire Andrej Babis.

President Milos Zeman who is in a wheelchair and suffering from COVID-19, led the unusual ceremony from his Prague residence, protected by a plastic barrier.

“I am convinced that we will soon have a strong and stable government”, said Fiala at the ceremony, which was broadcast live on television.

Fiala’s party teamed up with a center-left liberal coalition made up of the Pirate Party and STAN — a group of mayors and independent candidates — which came in third place at the election with 15.6% of votes.

The new partnership will hold 108 seats in the 200-seat lower house of Parliament, relegating populist Babis and his centrist ANO (YES) movement to the opposition.

The five parties in the future governing coalition have agreed on a power-sharing deal. They are closer to the European Union than Euroskeptic Babis.

Fiala, 57, who has led the conservative Civic Democratic Party since 2014, is a professor of political sciences. Previously, he served as Education Minister between 2012-13.