Prague, May 14 (CTK) – Three-fifths of Czechs disagree with the way President Milos Zeman is dealing with the current government crisis, while 32 percent said his policy is good, according to a poll conducted by the Median polling institute and released on Sunday.
Some 37 percent are of the view that Zeman should dismiss Finance Minister Andrej Babis (ANO) as soon as possible, which was proposed by Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (Social Democrats, CSSD).
The same proportion agree with the view that he should wait until the Constitutional Court decides on whether he has to do so.
Median’s analyst Daniel Prokop said the critics of Zeman’s conduct included 43 percent of those who had voted for him in the presidential election four years ago.
People with higher education, residents of big towns and those who are generally critical of Zeman tend to reject Zeman’s attitude to the government crisis.
Sobotka argues that Babis should be dismissed because he avoided tax paying and influenced the media he owned. Babis has denied the allegations.
Zeman wants to only deal with the proposal to dismiss Babis after he returns from China on Thursday.
He has refused to dismiss Babis, arguing that at first a coalition agreement between the CSSD, ANO and Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) should be terminated.
Only 18 percent of Czechs believe that Zeman should not dismiss Babis.
In early May, 16 percent of Czechs said Babis was to blame for the government crisis, but the proportion rose to the current one-quarter of Czechs.
On the other hand, Sobotka was denoted as the cause of the crisis by one-third of Czechs, but the figure fell to the current 27 percent.
