PRAGUE, June 15 (Xinhua) -- The Czech Social Democratic Party (CSSD) has entered into a coalition government with the ANO party by way of an intra-party referendum, announced CSSD chairman Jan Hamacek on Friday at the close of the party's leadership meeting.
A total of 11,404 Social Democrats voted in the referendum, in which 58.5 percent voted for the coalition and 40.2 opposed it.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, who is leader of the ANO party, welcomed the referendum result. On Sunday, he will hand over to President Milos Zeman a list of the 15 proposed ministers. The CSSD is to fill five ministerial posts -- the interior, foreign affairs, labour and social affairs, agriculture and culture ministries. Babis wants to ask the Chamber of Deputies' for its vote of confidence in his second cabinet on July 11.
The Czech communist party KSCM has said it is ready to consider tolerating the emerging minority government of ANO and CSSD, provided that the government policy statement includes their seven program demands, said KSCM leader Vojtech Filip on Friday. He said his party will support the formation of the minority cabinet by enabling it to win the confidence vote held in parliament.
Filip dismissed the information that the KSCM demanded posts in state-controlled firms in exchange for its support for the government. The KSCM leadership will make its final decision on its support for the ANO-CSSD government at its next meeting on June 30.
KSCM wants the government to push through a general referendum bill, impose a tax on the financial compensation that churches receive, reject any further increase in participation in foreign military missions without the United Nations Security Council mandate, raise pensions and the minimum wage, protect the country's mineral resources, maintain available health care services without raising the fees, prevent rent hikes, and support the construction of social housing.
Filip said that if the government does not proceed in line with the above KSCM priorities, it will protest. If negotiations fail, KSCM may withdraw support for the government and vote against it in a no-confidence vote.
