Prague - The Czech interim government of Prime Minister Jan
Fischer, which is set to govern until early polls in October, cleared
a vote of confidence in parliament's lower house on Sunday.
The caretaker technocrat government took power on May 8, six weeks
after the three-party center-right cabinet of former prime minister
Mirek Topolanek was embarrassingly ousted in a parliamentary vote of
no-confidence midway through the country's presidency of the European
Union.
The Fischer-led cabinet is to finish the country's term at the EU
helm ending June 30.
Fischer's least popular task is to draft a thrifty state budget
amid the global economic crisis. The premier also vowed to battle
right-wing extremism which has been on the rise across Eastern
Europe.
'The government will do its best to fulfill its duties,' Fischer
said after the vote, vowing to work in a 'decent, honest and
effective' manner.
The interim cabinet plans to leave privatization decisions to a
government that would emerge from the October election, Fischer
reiterated on Sunday. The Czech Republic has been in process of
selling its 91.5-stake in Czech Airlines.
The 200-seat house approved the interim cabinet in a 156-1 vote,
which required a majority of the 194 present lawmakers. Thirty-seven
lawmakers abstained from the vote and six were not present.
The government was backed by Topolanek's right-wing Civic
Democrats, his fierce rivals, the Social Democrats of Jiri Paroubek,
the Greens and several independents.
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