Czech parliament starts confidence vote debate

...Minister Mirek Topolanek.

Topolanek's coalition commands just 100 votes in the 200-seat lower house of parliament. But he has secured a pledge by two opposition deputies to abstain, and thus should have a majority in voting expected later in the day.

"This is about (approving) a government that has agreed on the maximum possible reforms," Topolanek told the lower house in his opening speech.

A victory would end a political crisis which has crippled policy-making in the central European country since an election last June split the parliament evenly between centre-right and left-wing forces.

However, the government may find it difficult to push through its liberal economic reform agenda, such as tax cuts and health reform.

The two rebels, who split from the leftist Social Democrat caucus, have not promised to back any legislation and analysts said political instability may persist in the coming months.

While the Social Democrats are against many of the government's proposed tax and social reforms, they are also under pressure to ensure the government survives for a longer period of time since the leftists trail badly in opinion polls.

The ruling coalition, made up of Topolanek's right-wing Civic Democrats, the centrist Christian Democrats and the Green Party, has agreed it would try to trigger an early election if the opposition blocks it from carrying out its reform plans.

[PRAGUE/Reuters/Finance.cz]