The process of forming the 3-week-old right-wing coalition government in Prague after the general election in early October was protracted and difficult. One ministerial post remains empty after backlash against the coalition's preferred candidate. In addition, the requisite vote of confidence for the new Cabinet has not yet been held in the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Czech parliament.
They included Filip Turek, the candidate for the post of Czech environment minister put forward by the euroskeptic Motorists for Themselves party, one of Mr. Babis's two coalition allies. Mr. Turek, an ex-racing driver, has faced intense media scrutiny over allegedly racist, sexist and homophobic Facebook posts, several Hitler salutes, and an incident involving a Saudi diplomat and a spent ammunition cartridge.
Czech President and former chief of the General Staff of the Czech Armed Forces Petr Pavel is a level-headed man with strong nerves. Yet even though he almost never gets emotional in his capacity as head of state, he has seemed for quite some time to be deeply concerned about the state of democracy in the Czech Republic. On Tuesday evening, less than three days before the polls open in Czechia's parliamentary election, he spoke to the nation.
