President Zeman agrees to meeting with ODS leader, Senate to debate transfer of power

Prague, Oct 13 (CTK) - President Miloš Zeman agreed to meet with ODS chairman and leader of the Together coalition Petr Fiala the president's spokesman Jiří Ovčáček said on Twitter today. Fiala's request to Zeman was delivered by the head of the president's office Vratislav Mynář. 

According to the spokesperson, the meeting will take place "at a later date".

Fiala told reporters today that he had asked to meet Zeman through Mynár. According to the ODS leader, the meeting will take place when the hospitalized president is outside the intensive care unit. 

"I confirm that the chairman of the ODS, Petr Fiala, asked the President of the Republic Miloš Zeman, through the head of the Office of the President of the Republic Vratislav Mynář, to meet," said Ovčáček. 

"The chancellor has already spoken to the President about the ODS chairman's request. The president agrees. The meeting will take place at a later date," the spokesman added.

The coalitions announced that their candidate for prime minister would ask the president for a meeting on Saturday evening after the results of the parliamentary elections were tallied. 

On Sunday, however, Zeman was hospitalized; prior to that Babiš visited him in Lány. The president remains in the intensive care unit at the Central Military Hospital.

According to the hospital, he is in stable condition. Ovčáček stated that Zeman communicates, monitors the political situation, and is up to speed on the latest events. No further information on his health is available.

After Wednesday's talks on the government, the parties announced that they could sign a government coalition agreement by November 8.

The Together three-party coalition, which won the weekend general election, wants to form a government together with the coalition of the Mayors and Independents (STAN) and Pirates. The two coalitions have 108 seats in the 200-seat Chamber of Deputies and they declared that they would not negotiate about the forming of the government with any other party. Fiala is the candidate for prime minister of the two coalitions.

But Zeman previously said he would entrust the government formation to the leader of the most successful party, which is ANO chairman and outgoing Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, not of the most successful election coalition of parties.

The Senate announced after today's meeting of the Senate Security Committee the transfer of powers of the president will only be initiated depending on the forecast of the state of health of Miloš Zeman, which it has requested, and only if necessary. 

Senate Security Committee chairman Pavel Fischer (Independent) said he hopes that the Castle's provision of information about the president's health will improve.

"The way in which we learn about the president's health in delayed, inaccurate, and misleading terms is incredible," he said. According to Fischer, the President's Office has failed and is not acting in the public interest.