PRAGUE, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Czech President Milos Zeman on Tuesday entrusted Andrej Babis to negotiate on forming a new government, an informal step not embedded in the Czech Constitution but supposed to lead to Babis' designation as the prime minister.
Babis is the leader of the ANO party, which won the most seats at the October 2017 legislative election.
He said earlier that he would like to form a minority government, which was supported by Zeman.
Zeman said he did not give the condition of gaining majority in the Chamber of Deputies to Babis because ANO had won the election with a large margin and he considered Babis as a successful businessman and minister.
Babis said he would try to form a new government as soon as possible, and he wants to come up with a government manifesto by Christmas.
He said it is important to constitute the Chamber of Deputies quickly so that the state budget law could be passed, and then the country would avoid a stopgap budget. Babis also expected to have experts who are not ANO members in his one-color government.
Zeman said he would call on other parties to support Babis' minority government, and he expects Babis' government would be stable and successful. He said if the Chamber of Deputies did not express confidence in Babis' first government, he would name Babis the prime minister for the second time. Zeman said he would do his utmost to prevent early election in the Czech Republic.
The current Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka's government must submit its resignation after the newly elected Chamber of Deputies meets. Zeman has called its constituent session for November 20.
