Czech government resigns

Czech prime minister Mirek Topolanek said his government voted to resign today after losing a vote of confidence in parliament.

The move by Topolanek, who heads a minority centre-right government, had been widely expected after he announced last week that his Cabinet would step down.

The government narrowly lost a parliamentary confidence vote on October 3 by 99 votes to 96, when Socialists and Communists united against Topolanek’s Civic Democratic Party and its partners, the Greens and Christian Democrats.