Czech turmoil over removing ailing President Zeman’s powers

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Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis has called on the head of the president’s office to resign immediately over alleged impropriety in exercising the powers of ailing President Milos Zeman. Police are investigating allegations of “criminal acts against the republic”. President Zeman is currently in intensive care in hospital. He was admitted a day after elections in which the centre-right opposition effectively ended Mr Babis’s chances of remaining in power. Now Czech politics have been thrown into turmoil by bombshell revelations by Senate Chairman Milos Vystrcil. For over a week, the president’s office has insisted Mr Zeman’s undisclosed illness does not prevent him from fulfilling his constitutional obligations. However, the head of the senate says he has received official confirmation from the director of Prague’s Central Military Hospital that the president is “incapable of fulfilling any of his working responsibilities” – in other words unable to carry out his duties.(BBC)…[+]