Constitutional game of nerves: the president risks, Babiš waits

The future Czech government has shown in the election of the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies and the subsequent distribution of positions in parliamentary committees that its cooperation is excellent. The cooperation went so well that the Pirates were left completely out of office. They passed the first test of potential cooperation with flying colours.

Now, however, they will have to fight for Prague Castle. And, as with every parliamentary election, the notorious weakness of the Czech constitution, which has recently made it difficult to establish a new government, is becoming apparent.

The shortcomings of the Czech constitution in the formation of the government

The Czech constitution is clear that the source of all state power is the people. It chooses its representation through parliamentary elections. The President then entrusts the winner of the election with the formation of the government, which must win the confidence of Parliament or, in other words, respect the result of the election.

However, this process has traditionally had two contentious moments. Nowhere is it specified exactly how long the president has to wait before appointing a government. Although President Petr Pavel did authorise the winner of the election, Andrej Babiš, to form a government on 27 October 2025, this is not yet an appointment as prime minister.

The second issue, which comes up much more frequently, is the president's ability to refuse to appoint or not appoint a member of the government. The situation has become considerably more complicated since the president is directly elected. Although there has been no strengthening of the President's powers on this issue, the President can rely on the support of the public and the media.

In 2019, the then president of the Constitutional Court, Pavel Rychetsky, put it this way in an interview with Rešpekt: "The current constitutional model, especially in the case of the dismissal and appointment of ministers, clearly entrusts this power to the prime minister and does not give the president any room for discretion, i.e., discretion."

Of course, at that time, Miloš Zeman was sitting in the Castle. So the Liberals at the time were right to point out that the president should not have reservations about personnel issues of the government, which are the responsibility of the prime minister.

It is strange that progressives are not only suffering from memory loss, but are even demanding that President Pavel not appoint Filip Turk as a minister. It does not bother them at all that this would change the nature of the current regime from a parliamentary to a presidential one.

Selective defence of democracy

The rhetoric of defending democracy is often used selectively. It appears especially when one political party or bloc does not have a majority. On the other hand, it has not yet happened that the Czech President has not finally stepped down. This is because there would be a risk of a competence action. And that would be very risky for both sides.

Incidentally, Andrej Babiš himself ruled out this possibility on Wednesday. The motorists came to the President's rescue by proposing a swap of ministries between the Turk and the Motorists' chairman, Macinka. Thus, Turek should sit in the post of environment minister. But even here the Castle is not yet satisfied.

This situation is therefore very dangerous for the new government. Surprisingly, the motorists have already backed down when they proposed a reshuffle of ministries. From the point of view of the Constitution, the Foreign Ministry is not special in that it requires more candidates of integrity than the other ministries. There is, of course, an element of taste and representation, but that will never be objective. If the Motorists eventually cave in to pressure and appoint someone else instead of Turk, it will be their first political defeat before they have even begun to govern. Any sign of weakness at the start can backfire badly.

Another complication: the conflict of interests and the president's demands

Or there is a second possibility: that Andrej Babiš will stand up for the Motorists and insist on Filip Turk. This is despite the fact that he wants to have good relations with the president, which is the basis for cooperation in the election period.

But the story gets even more complicated, because President Pavel also insists that Babiš give him an explanation of how he wants to resolve his conflict of interest, in which he will find himself as the owner of Agrofert and the future prime minister. Here too, however, the president is overstepping his authority. On the one hand, Babiš has a 30-day period from the moment he was appointed Prime Minister to explain. And since he has not yet been appointed, he does not have to explain anything yet. Regardless, he has to explain his conflict of interest to the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate or the relevant committees, not to the President.

President Paul has thus played a very dangerous game. After all, the Constitution is superior to ordinary laws. As a result, sub-constitutional norms and purposely drafted regulations are now being interpreted as if they lay down conditions for the appointment of the Prime Minister that the Constitution itself does not recognise. Moreover, as an ex-serviceman, he runs a great risk of getting entangled in these legal contortions.

Perhaps the President is acting out of a sense of moral obligation to "intervene". It is not clear what the President's intervention is supposed to resolve, since neither the law nor the Constitution gives him any role in the matter. It is he who, because of his own past, should best understand that the "sins of youth" can only be corrected by giving a man the opportunity to stand in the service of the state, not by denying him the opportunity to begin at all.

Moreover, as recently as August 21, 2025, in an interview with the CTC, the President made it clear that he wanted government quickly and would not set any preconditions. Today, however, it looks exactly the opposite: there will be no government quickly, and the president is setting conditions right away. We can only guess where this reversal of position took place.

A paradoxical advantage for the incoming government

Paradoxically, however, the current stalemate also suits the incoming government. The longer appointments are delayed, the more clearly the true state of public finances and the extent of the problems the new government will inherit become apparent.

And in the eyes of the public, it will no longer be the government that is responsible for these, but the government that is still in the process of ending. President Paul's procrastination may thus, paradoxically, complicate the situation for the opposition parties.

And if the stalemate lasts long enough, in a few months' time another small detail will come into play: the budget of the President's office. Parliament, not the President, approves it. And he always has the option of turning off the spigot to those who make his job more difficult.