UPDATE: "The LIDEM board has called its ministers to tender their resignations by January 10," said the junior government party's chairwoman Karolina Peake at a press conference that followed her sacking from the post of defense minister by Prime Minister Petr Necas (ODS) earlier today.
Peake said that the party will go to the opposition.
The original story published today at 5:31 PM (CET) is here:
Prague - Prime Minister Petr Necas (ODS) dismissed his defense minister, Karolina Peake, just eight days after she was appointed.
Karolina Peake nonetheless still retains the post of deputy prime minister.
The PM's move was extremely sudden and unexpected: this daily has learned that even Peake's closest advisers were not told in advance about the planned sacking.
Vondra quits as defense minister on bad election result
Her sudden dismissal will probably mean the end of the ruling coalition government that currently consists of the prime minister's Civic Democratic Party (ODS), TOP 09 and Peake's LIDEM.
According to sources from the government, Karolina Peake said that she "wished the two-member coalition good luck and thanked them for the cooperation" after she learned about her dismissal.
"It practically means the end of the coalition. Our board will still meet (to discuss the situation), but at this moment I think that it will be rather a formality," said LIDEM deputy chairman Viktor Paggio.
Iraqi side has yet to approve L-159 aircraft deal
"I absolutely do not understand what happened. We will discuss it this evening," said Regional Development Minister Kamil Jankovsky from the same party.
"It may mean the end of the coalition," said the party's first deputy chairwoman Dagmar Navratilova.
The coalition will no longer have a majority in the Chamber of Deputies if LIDEM's eight deputies leave it.
Peake was removed from her post extremely quickly. President Klaus sacked Peake only 16 minutes after the Office of the Government announced that the PM requested it.
Peake's appointment as defense minister on December 12 was criticized by the opposition as well as President Klaus who described Peake as a "little girl" who wouldn't be accepted by men in uniform.
Also, on her second day in office, Peake sacked three of the key men in the ministry, including First Deputy Minister Vlastimil Picek, in a move that angered both PM Petr Necas and President Vaclav Klaus.
