PRAGUE - The loser in the recent Czech general election, Social Democrat Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek, said he will consult his government tomorrow on whether it should resign or not.
'If it appears that a majority of ministers think that we should carry on, then I will not resign,' he said in a televised political discussion programme.
Political developments in the Czech Republic have been largely stalled since the elections resulted in a lower house split exactly down the middle.
Mirek Topolanek's conservative Civic Democrats and its allies, the small Christian Democrat and Green Party, and a left-wing bloc composed of Paroubek's Social Democrats and the Communist Party each hold 100 seats in the 200-member lower house.
Paroubek, who took second place behind the Topolanek in the elections on June 2 and 3, announced a few days ago he would tender his resignation Monday to clear the way for a replacement government.
But President Vaclav Klaus countered in a news conference Friday that he would not accept the 'irresponsible resignation,' pointing to an continuing deadlock over appointments to key posts in the lower house since the elections.
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