FILE- In this Friday, Sept. 21, 2018 file photo, Czech President Milos Zeman arrives for a meeting with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the Bellevue Palace in Berlin, Germany. The upper house of Czech Parliament has voted Wednesday, July 24, 2019, to bring charges against President Milos Zeman for violating the Constitution.(AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

Czech senators say president violated country's constitution

By Associated Press AP

PUBLISHED 3:02 PM ET Jul. 24, 2019

PRAGUE (AP) — The upper house of the Czech Parliament has voted to bring charges against President Milos Zeman for allegedly violating the constitution.

The Senate, which is controlled by the opposition, voted 48-20 Wednesday to file the charges at the Constitutional Court. Zeman denies wrongdoing.

But a three-fifths majority in Parliament's lower house would also have to approve the Senate's request for the court to deal with the case. That's unlikely to happen because the house is dominated by Prime Minister Andrej Babis' ANO (YES) centrist movement, Zeman's ally.

The Senators charged Zeman with failing to act in line with the constitution in eight cases, including a repeated failure to appoint proposed government ministers. If the court agrees with the charges, Zeman would lose the presidency, a largely ceremonial job.