Czech Republic President appoints Petr Fiala as new Prime Minister

Czech Republic President Milos Zeman appointed Petr Fiala as the Prime Minister of the country on November 28, 2021. Fiala is the leader of the Together coalition that had won the general elections in the Czech Republic in October 2021. The ceremony of appointing Fiala as the new head of the Czech Republic government was broadcast by Czech Television.

Milos Fiala leads a bloc of five centre and centre-right opposition parties that had won the elections in October and had ousted the incumbent premier Andrej Babis and his allies. The new Prime Minister of the Czech Republic also acknowledged that the new government has a very complicated time ahead as well as many challenges.

COVID-positive Czech president appoints new PM from plexiglass cubicle https://t.co/08M7x0Zcjc pic.twitter.com/kPv6AfZYHL

— Reuters (@Reuters) November 28, 2021

Who is the new Prime Minister of Czech Republic?

•  Petr Fiala was born in 1964. He had studied the Czech language, literature, history at Masaryk University from where he graduated in 1988.

•  Fiala has worked as a historian, as an editor, and as a journalist and has also occupied various positions at his alma meter.

•  In 2012-13, Fiala served as the Minister of Education, Sport, and Youth in the government of Petr Necas.

•  In October 2013, he was elected as an independent lawmaker to the lower house and later also joined the Civic Democratic Party (CDS), which Fiala has been leading since 2014.

Parliamentary Elections in Czech Republic

In early October 2021, the Together Coalition comprising of the Christian, CDS, and Democratic Union- Czechoslovak People’s Party and TOP 09 party had won 27.12% of the vote in the Parliamentary Elections. The Together Coalition in the Czech Republic further joined the force with another bloc, resulting in a 108-seat majority.

What are the challenges for new Czech Republic Government?

The new government in the Czech Republic will have to tackle a new wave of COVID-19 pandemic that has been threatening to overwhelm the hospitals. Another issue is the energy crisis which occurred after the collapse of a large electricity provider.

The new Prime Minister Petr Fiala has also called on to people to get vaccinated against the virus and has praised the medical staff as the cases are on rising.

The opponents of the vaccination and the announced anti-coronavirus measures by the government such as a ban on Christmas markets had gathered in thousands in Prague later on November 28 for a protest.

Only 58.5% of people of Czech Republic are vaccinated against the virus. As per the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, this compares to a European Union average of 65.8%.