Pavel held meetings on Sunday with several party leaders who secured seats in the Czech parliament’s lower house in this weekend’s elections, which were dominated by Babiš and his right-wing ANO party. Pavel will meet with the rest of the party leaders on Monday.
“It’s still too early to discuss a mandate to form a government,” Pavel said. “It will only make sense to discuss this once there’s a clearer outline of a government that could realistically secure the support of the Chamber of Deputies. And we’re not there yet,” he said, adding that he assumes the inaugural session of the new Cabinet will take place in November.
In Czechia, the president holds a key constitutional role, meeting with party leaders after elections to explore possible coalitions. Usually, the winner of the election is given the first chance, but the president ultimately decides who will be tasked with forming a government, choosing the leader most likely to secure a majority in the 200-seat lower chamber of parliament.
Once a government with at least a 101-seat majority is established, the president appoints the prime minister and ministers, but the government must still win a vote of confidence.
Babiš on Saturday said he will seek to form a minority government supported by the right-wing populist Motorists for Themselves and far-right Freedom and Democracy (SPD) parties.
Pavel previously said he is consulting lawyers on the question of whether to block Babiš over the conflict of interest posed by the tycoon’s large agriculture empire Agrofert. Pavel said he has discussed the matter with Babiš.
“Andrej Babiš confirmed … that if he is given the mandate to form a government and is appointed, he will resolve the conflict of interest in accordance with the law,” said Pavel, adding that there are several options.
“He even showed me some of them, but I won’t comment further for now until it becomes relevant. But the options he proposed are indeed all ways to comply with the law,” added Pavel.