PRAGUE - Czech Prime Minister Stanislav Gross and his government are expected to resign Monday, a spokesman for President Vaclav Klaus said Thursday.
"The president ... expects Stanislav Gross to present the government's resignation on Monday," said the spokesman, Petr Hajek.
"This will allow the president to name a new prime minister who will be proposed by the parties (of the current coalition)," Hajek said in a statement.
The new prime minister is expected to be 52-year-old Jiri Paroubek, a fellow member of the current premier's Social Democrats party and now serving as the Czech local development minister.
Paroubek has said he wants to have his team set by Friday and has indicated he will not make drastic changes.
The Czech government has been in disarray since a scandal erupted in January over how Gross, 35, had financed his luxury Prague flat in 1999 on his official salary. Until now, he has clung to power despite mounting calls for him to go.
Gross's party, the Social Democrats, rules in a coalition with two partners: the Christian Democrats and the Freedom Union.
All six ministers from the Christian Democrats and the Freedom Union have resigned their posts in protest over Gross's murky personal finances.
But the Czech president has so far refused to accept the resignations and the ministers, including Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda, have remained in the cabinet as the three ruling coalition parties try to agree on continuing their co-operation.
Under the Czech constitution, the government steps down if the prime minister resigns.
The president has said he will not accept a minority Social Democrat party government supported only by the Communist party, insisting that the only options are continuing the current centre-left coalition or fresh, early elections.
04/21/2005 14:37 GMT