PRAGUE (Reuters) - Czech President Vaclav Klaus will name Civic Democrat leader Petr Necas as the next prime minister on Monday, ushering in what should be the country's strongest government in a decade.
"Tomorrow at 10 a.m. I will name Petr Necas as prime minister," Klaus said on Sunday in a live television interview.
Necas is leading coalition talks with two other centre-right parties, TOP09 and Public Affairs, after the three won a combined 118 seats out of 200 in a May 28-29 election with pledges of austerity and fighting corruption.
Necas has said he wants a deal by early July so a new government can prepare a cost-cutting 2011 budget, although talks between the parties have dragged on because of disputes, one being over who should run the key finance ministry.
Klaus accepted the resignation of caretaker Prime Minister Jan Fischer on Friday ending a more than year-old interim cabinet that led the country after the collapse of the previous centre-right administration.
Fischer will stay on until a new cabinet takes power following a May election.
Investors, analysts and rating agencies cheered the centre-right victory as the best possible outcome from the election, and the most likely grouping to kick-start needed reforms in pensions and healthcare -- areas in which the country of 10.5 million has lagged behind neighbours in the past.
(Reporting by Jason Hovet)
