Czech president 'stable' in intensive care unit

Czech President Milos Zeman (pictured) was in a stable condition in an intensive care unit on Monday (11 October), a hospital spokeswoman said, as his illness delayed the initial steps in post-election talks to form a new government.

The unexpected development complicates efforts to form a new government. Zeman and Babis, who appears to have been weakened by revelations in the Pandora Papers leaks, were expected to meet on Sunday morning in what some opposition members interpreted as a sign that the president might seek to keep the prime minister in power despite the election result. But shortly after the meeting was scheduled to take place, Zeman was seen being transported to a hospital by ambulance.

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In a news conference on Zeman’s hospitalization, hospital director Miroslav Zavoral cited “complications accompanying his chronic illness” but did not elaborate on the illness from which the president suffers or whether he was conscious.

Zeman has been reported to suffer from diabetes and neuropathy.

On Monday, the hospital released a brief statement only saying he was in stable condition after being treated in intensive care.

Zeman’s hospitalization adds further uncertainty to the outcome of the election, which left the opposition with a far clearer path than Babis’s party to form a government — but did not fully block the prime minister’s chances of leading a minority government with the support of the president.

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