Legislative elections were held in the Czech Republic on 8-9 October, with the Together coalition of three Liberal parties emerging victorious. Fiala has been nominated as a candidate for the post of prime minister.
"Over half an hour, we discussed with the President further steps towards appointing a new Cabinet. We should again meet with the President after the parliamentary meeting on November 8 and the subsequent resignation of the government of Prime Minister Andrej Babis. It would be great if it happened not in the hospital, but in the Prague Castle or in his country residence, Lana. At this meeting, I will propose to the President a list of candidates for our Cabinet, and some of them he said he would like to meet," Fiala told reporters on air of Czech Television following his video call with Zeman.
Fiala noted that the approval of the new government may take several weeks or even months, largely depending on the state of Zeman's health. A day prior, Zeman himself pledged to make all efforts so that a new government is appointed as soon as possible.
On 18 October, following Zeman's hospitalization, head of the upper house of the Czech parliament Milos Wistricil published the contents of a letter sent to him by the hospital, which said that Zeman was not able to perform official duties. This raised the issue of invoking Article 66 of the constitution, which allows for the transfer of powers in case the president becomes incapacitated.
However, on Friday, Wistricil said that the recent medical evaluation showed the president was able to perform official duties, at least the most important ones. He added that invoking Article 66 was off the table for now.