Upset by the coalition plan, the left-wing opposition blocked the lower house session in the past week.
It says the plan reflects the government's disrespect of the mid-2006 general election results. The opposition voted against the Czech Greens not to seek post in Chamber of Deputies leadership ...
Czech CSSD to turn to court if govt makes committee changes ...
EU joint policy should be adapted to development-ministers ...
Czech govt survives no confidence motion provoked by opposition ...
Czech CSSD committee nods to new vote of no confidence in govt ... proposal today, as did two deputies for the junior governing Greens (SZ), Vera Jakubkova and Olga Zubova. Nevertheless, the proposal was passed by the votes of the rest of the coalition plus Milos Melcak and Michal Pohanka, two former deputies for the senior opposition Social Democracy (CSSD) who have sided with the government for many months. Earlier this week, the lower house session bogged down on disputes between the coalition and the opposition after the former proposed that the change in number of committees' members be voted on. On Wednesday, deputies for the opposition CSSD and Communists (KSCM) blocked the debate by filibustering and requested breaks. They said obstruction is their last instrument of defence against the step that they said is at variance with democratic rules and the election results. The CSSD said the plan is also aimed to unseat its deputies David Rath and Bohuslav Sobotka as heads of the health and budget committees, respectively. After the lower house approved the change today, ODS deputies' group head Petr Tluchor acquainted his counterparts from other parties with the way the upcoming increase in the number of members from 18 to 19 or from 22 to 23 would influence the division of posts in the committees involved. The concrete personnel filling of the posts will have to be approved by the Chamber of Deputies in a separate vote. Tluchor previously said the coalition, whose three parties had gained a total of 100 seats in the 200-seat Chamber in the 2006 polls and have the same number of votes in committees as the opposition has, has become a majority coalition in the meantime and should enjoy a majority in lower house committees as well. The opposition insists it will not back the step which it calls rigging of election results.
(Ceske Noviny)
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