The Czech Government, led by Prime Minister Petr Fial, has survived a no-confidence vote over the so-called bitcoin scandal.
The vote on June 18 was triggered by a €40 million bitcoin donation on May 28 to the Czech Ministry of Justice by Tomáš Jiřikovský, who had been convicted of embezzlement in 2017.
Following the donation scandal, Justice Minister Pavel Blažek resigned.
Opposition parties seized the moment to attempt to bring down the current government.
Parliamentary elections have been scheduled for October 2025 and the main opposition party, the right-wing ANO, is currently leading in the polls.
The no-confidence motion was backed by the ANO and the right-wing Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) party.
Despite two days of debate in the lower house, the motion ultimately failed, as Fiala’s ruling coalition, led by his Civic Democratic Party, still held a parliamentary majority.
At least 101 MP votes would be necessary to overthrow the cabinet but only 98 MPs voted against the government.
Following the ballot, Karel Havlíček of ANO stated that trust in the government was at an all-time low.
“The people have definitively stopped trusting the state, and that the Czech Republic’s reputation abroad has suffered,” he said.
SPD deputy chairman Radim Fiala echoed that sentiment
“The fact that you survived it means that you may believe in yourself, but you definitely do not have the trust of us and the trust of the people in the Czech Republic,” she said.
The Czech Ministry of Justice is under investigation for accepting and auctioning a gift of over 480 Bitcoins from a convicted drug trafficker. https://t.co/ZZSHk5FEil
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) June 2, 2025
