The Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Parliament, voted on Wednesday in favour of a constitutional bill to introduce direct presidential elections for the first time in the history of the Czech Republic as an independent state. Following an hour and half debate the lower house of the parliament on Wednesday morning, 159 of the 192 deputies present voted in favour of the bill. The support of the main opposition party, the Social Democrats (ČSSD), was necessary because as a constitutional bill, a three-fifths majority was required.
