PRAGUE: The minority Czech cabinet of Andrej Babis resigned on Wednesday, a day after losing a confidence vote as lawmakers turned their backs on the tycoon who is fighting charges of EU subsidy fraud.
President Milos Zeman, a Babis ally who is up for relection on January 26-27, has vowed to give the tycoon a second chance to form the cabinet if he proves he has the necessary backing in parliament.
"The cabinet has approved its resignation and I will ask the president for an appointment to deliver the resignation in person," Babis told reporters.
Zeman will receive Babis this week, said his spokesman Jiri Ovcacek.
Under the constitution, the president has two attempts to decide who will form the government, leaving the third and final try to the parliament speaker, who is a member of Babis's ANO (YES) movement.
The constitution also allows Babis's cabinet to continue as a fully-fledged government.
Campaigning on an anti-corruption, anti-euro and anti-migrant ticket, ANO came out on top in October's general election, winning 78 seats in the 200-member parliament.
In the confidence vote on Tuesday, only the 78 ANO lawmakers voted in favour of the cabinet comprising ANO members and unaffiliated technocrats, while 117 deputies were against.
Stripping immunity
Potential coalition partners have snubbed Babis, a Slovak-born billionaire, suspicious of his communist past and recent police charges over alleged fraud.
The mogul, dubbed the "Czech Trump" and whom Forbes pegs as the second wealthiest Czech citizen, has been charged with breaking EU subsidy rules back in 2007.
Babis allegedly pulled the Stork Nest farm out of his sprawling Agrofert chemicals, food and media holding in 2007 to make it eligible for an EU subsidy granted to small companies, before eventually returning it to the holding.
The 63-year-old premier asked parliament on Tuesday to strip him of immunity, insisting that "no one stole anything, there was no corruption."
"We live in a country with bodies that can lead an independent investigation," he said.
The parliament is due to debate lifting immunity for Babis on Friday.
The pro-Russian Zeman clinched pole position in round one of a presidential election last weekend, setting up a challenging run-off against pro-European Jiri Drahos on January 26-27.
Analyst Jiri Pehe told AFP a victory for Zeman might "pave the way for a deeper alliance with Andrej Babis," while Drahos's win could torpedo Babis's chances to govern as the former academic doesn't want a prime minister facing potential charges.