Czech President Petr Pavel continued to object to cabinet nominee Filip Turek after being presented with the proposed cabinet line up by billionaire ex-prime minister Andrej Babiš, leader of the populist ANO party, which won the October general election.

Turek, an honorary chairman of the anti-green and eurosceptic Motorists for Themselves, is the party’s nominee to head the Ministry of Environment. 

“The president thinks he [Turek] should not be a member of the cabinet,” Babiš was quoted as saying by Czech Radio (CRo) following the presentation of the cabinet nominees to Pavel on November 26. He added that Pavel pointed out legal issues in connection to Turek’s nomination. 

Despite the president’s opposition, Babiš stated that “we are not aware of legal obstacles, which would prevent the nomination of Filip Turek as member of the cabinet.”

As bne IntelliNews reported earlier, Pavel previously said he would reject Turek following a scandal over his racist, sexist and homophobic online comments, as reports appeared of police looking into the history of Turek’s comments. 

Pavel is expected to begin talks with individual nominees this week, and his office reiterated Pavel also expects Babiš to resolve his conflict of interests in connection to his ownership ties to the food and agro-chemical conglomerate Agrofert before being appointed the next prime minister.

Although the presidential role is largely ceremonial in the process, the president could serve as a backstop in exceptional cases when a nominee does not meet legal requirements for a ministerial job. 

The cabinet line up includes eight ANO nominees, four nominees by the Motorists and three by the far right Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD). None of the SPD’s nominees are party members, which is seen as Babiš’ effort to convince international observers that his cabinet may not be as toxic as the emerging ruling coalition with two radical rightwing parties suggests.

Aside from Turek, the Motorists have also nominated party leader Petr Macinka to head the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The decision to hand two key ministries to the Motorists has caused a public outcry, and thousands rallied at one of the largest environmental demonstrations in recent years last month, protesting against an earlier proposal for climate change denier Macinka to head the environmental portfolio.

The country’s liberal media have raised questions over whether Turek meets elementary qualifications to hold a cabinet post in light of his other controversies, which include Nazi-like saluting and more recently an aggressive confrontation with a man protesting Turek’s presence at public commemorations of the November 17 struggle for freedom and democracy.

The Motorists are also expected to be in charge of the sports and culture portfolios, raising worries the party could exert pressure on the public media, including the scrapping of concession fees, the bulk of Czech Television (CT) and CRo financing, which ANO and SPD also advocate.

SPD, which has advocated for Czexit, nominated non-party members, general Jaromír Zůna, Slovak Railroad company boss Ivan Bednárik and ex-CEO of the state agricultural fund Martin Šebestyán to the defence, transportation and agriculture portfolios, respectively.

The party’s leader Tomio Okamura who faces criminal investigation over his racist anti-immigration campaign, was elected as the chairman of the parliament earlier this month.

ANO is sending some of its top brass, Alena Schillerová and Karel Havlíček, to head the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Trade and Industry respectively, posts they held already under the previous cabinet led by Babiš (2017-2021). Other old-new faces include the Covid-19 era ex-minister Adam Vojtěch to head the health portfolio, Robert Plaga to head the education portfolio, and Lubomír Metnar to head the Ministry of Interior.

Seasoned ex-social democrat Jeroným Tejc has been nominated to head the justice portfolio, while ANO party workhorses Aleš Juchelka and Zuzana Schwarz Bařtipánová are nominated to head the social affairs and regional development ministries, respectively.