Center-right opposition leader Petr Fiala is the new Prime Minister of the Czech Republic. He was officially appointed today by President Zeman.

Fiala is from the One Democratic State Party. He succeeds Andre Babis, who has been prime minister since December 2017. Papis, with his centrist populist ANO party, remained the largest party in last month’s elections with 27 percent of the vote. However, Fiala became the new prime minister, because a coalition of five center-right opposition and liberal parties won a majority in Parliament.

Fiala was actually supposed to be appointed on Friday, but that was postponed because Zeeman tested positive for corona earlier this week. He was in the hospital for 46 days with another case. During the ceremony, Ziemann was in a wheelchair; He was separated from Viala by a Plexiglas.

Close to Corona

The most important task for Fiala is now to do something about the sharply increasing number of corona infections. Last week, there were an average of more than 18,000 infections a day. New measures were announced on Thursday, such as closing restaurants and cafes in the evening.

Moreover, the new alliance is expected to be more EU-oriented than the skeptical Papiss party.