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TEHRAN, Jun 26 - Billionaire Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis appeared set to survive a no-confidence vote Wednesday, analysts said, even as he faces charges of graft, EU concerns over possible conflicts of interest and mass rallies demanding his resignation.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - Speaking in parliament ahead of the vote, Babis dubbed the move an "attempt to destabilise the country" as he vowed not to budge.
Babis's ANO movement leads a minority coalition with the Social Democrats (CSSD), relying on informal backing from the Communists for a majority of 108 seats in the 200-member parliament.
Both the CSSD and the Communists have said they will support Babis and ANO in the no-confidence motion called by the opposition.
"It would be a surprise if they (the government) lost. The chances are tiny," Tomas Lebeda, an analyst at Palacky University in the eastern city of Olomouc, told AFP, echoing other commentators.
"The opposition needs 101 votes and it doesn't have them."
The 64-year-old Slovak-born Babis, who made his fortune as the founder and owner of the sprawling Agrofert food, chemicals and media holding, has come under fire over allegedly murky business dealings.
He faces police charges in connection with a two million euro ($2.25 million) EU subsidy scam, while the EU is probing his dual role as politician and entrepreneur.
Babis allegedly served as a Communist secret police agent in the 1980s when the former Czechoslovakia was behind the Iron Curtain.
Source: AFP
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