Tuesday’s regular meeting began at 2 p.m., and deputies were still speaking in plenary and proposing new items for the meeting’s agenda. In this case, Benda submitted a procedural motion so that the DPR could take more time to act. Such a proposal must be approved immediately. However, before voting, the ODS Deputy Chair asked for a five-minute break so that legislative members could come to the hall. But in the end it wasn’t enough for him.

77 legislators voted in favor of his proposal that the lower house could act on Tuesday after 7, 9 p.m. and perhaps even after midnight, while 15 members of the opposition YES movement voted against it. However, the voting quorum at that time was 79, leaving the government side two votes short.

This means that the DPR must end its session at 7 p.m. And this is regardless of whether the deputies have time to discuss the proposed points, or whether the opposition will talk all afternoon and propose other points on the agenda. In most cases, the opposition prevents the government’s plans from being discussed as little as possible.

“It was my mistake, I forgot to ask for deregistration,” Benda admitted to Novinkám. Typically, coalitions ensure that they have enough representatives in the voting room and that their proposals are approved. It has a majority of 108 votes.

When asked whether Benda would still try to ensure that the DPR could finally convene on Tuesday even after 7 p.m., he answered that he would see how long ANO chairman Andrej Babiš’s speech would be. He spoke at the plenary session for nearly an hour. He was later replaced by the head of the movement’s parliamentary club, Alena Schillerová.

“Under normal circumstances, everything should be done today. If necessary, we may propose a longer meeting before 6pm,” added the chairman of the parliamentary club of the Citizen Democrats.

However, in the end the situation was resolved by the Deputy Chairman of the People’s Party, Aleš Dufek, who proposed negotiations until midnight at the plenary session. His support was sufficient, 83 of the 157 DPR members present voted for him.

On Tuesday, the House of Commons is expected to begin debating changes to firearms laws, which would require people to have an existing permit to use a firearm at their registration centre, rather than a physical ID or firearms licence.

Lawmakers will also have to address changes to the administration of elections and the introduction of a compensation tax on large multinational groups. On Wednesday, the first round of discussions on next year’s APBN awaits them.