PRAGUE, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Czech President Vaclav Klaus on Monday named Petr Necas, leader of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), as new prime minister of the country.
Necas is discussing with other two parties, TOP 09 and Public Affairs (VV), on the formation of a coalition government. The three parties together won a majority of seats in the lower house of parliament during the May elections.
After his appointment, Necas was sworn in by Klaus.
Born in November 1964, Necas was elected on June 20 as the head of ODS, the third chairman of the party after Vaclav Klaus and Mirek Topolanek.
In September 1995, he was appointed as First Deputy Minister of Defense. In 1996 he stood as an ODS candidate for the Chamber of Deputies of the parliament and was re-elected.
He then became the chairman of the Defense and Security Parliamentary Committee, a member of the Organizational Committee, a member of the Under-Committee for Intelligence Service and the vice-chairman of the Joint Committee of the European Parliament and the Parliament of the Czech Republic. He was also a member of the Permanent Controlling Body for activity of the Military Defense Intelligence Service.
During the extraordinary elections in 1998, he again stood as an ODS candidate and was re-elected. Until 2001, he was First Vice-Chairman of the ODS Parliamentary Club and served as the chairman of the Defense and Security Committee.
Besides, he was a member of the Permanent Delegation to the West European Union Assembly, a member of the Organizational Committee and the Under-Committee for Intelligence Service.
In December 1999, he was elected as the ODS vice-chairman and re-elected for the ODS vice-chairman at the 2002 ODS Congress.
From 1998 on he was Shadow Defense Minister. In 2002, he stood as an ODS leader candidate in Zlin region and was elected as a Member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic. He became the vice-chairman of the Committee for European Affairs, member of the Under-Committee for Arm Forces Reform and a member of permanent delegations to the West European Union Assembly and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.
As a father of four children, he always kept his private life away from the cameras of of press.
