Czech left calls confidence vote, govt seen surviving

...government for next week, but are likely to fall short of votes to recall the shaky administration.

The left-wing party, along with the far-left Communists, called the vote for next Wednesday to show dissatisfaction with Deputy Prime Minister Jiri Cunek, who has been charged by police for allegedly accepting a bribe.

Cunek has resisted calls for his resignation from both opposition and government ranks, saying he never took any bribe while serving as a mayor of an eastern Czech town five years ago, as police are alleging.

The Social Democrats have accused the government of interfering in the case by switching state attorneys overseeing the investigation. It is up to the state attorney to decide whether to bring the case to court.

The left has just 98 votes in the 200-seat lower house of parliament, short of the 101 votes needed to recall the cabinet.

"We do not trust a government with a deputy prime minister who has been charged sitting in it," Michal Hasek, head of the Social Democrat deputies, told parliament.

While the no-confidence vote will most likely fail, the three-party government has just 100 votes in the lower house and needs all support it can get to push through its fiscal reform programme aimed at cutting the budget deficit.

Cunek has the backing of his Christian Democrat party, but another coalition partner, the Greens, are trying to push him out of the cabinet.

They have said Cunek must quit if he is brought to court. The newly appointed state attorney has said it would take him weeks to consider the case.

Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek of the right-wing Civic Democrats has also said he would dismiss Cunek if he were brought to court.

"I have said clearly when I would dismiss Cunek," Topolanek said.