Czech president appoints government led by billionaire Babis

PRAGUE, Czech Republic – The Czech Republic’s president has sworn in a new government led by billionaire Andrej Babis for a second time, in a move supposed to end a period of political instability following last year’s general election.

The centrist ANO (YES) movement led by Babis won the election in October, but his minority government lost a confidence vote in January and had to resign. Other parties in Parliament have been reluctant to enter a coalition with ANO because of fraud charges Babis faces.

President Milos Zeman asked Babis to try to form a new government again, and these members were sworn in Wednesday.

His new government is a coalition with the Social Democrats that would have support from the far-left Communists in the mandatory confidence vote expected on July 11.