Left-Leaning Cabinet Appointed by Havel

President Vaclav Havel appointed a minority center-left Social Democrat Cabinet, completing the Czech Republic’s first shift of power to the left since the end of communism. Social Democrat leader Milos Zeman, 53, will head the government as prime minister after his party won 74 seats in the 200-seat lower house in last month’s general election. Zeman’s list of ministers approved by Havel includes several controversial figures, including Foreign Minister Jan Kavan, a Labor Party member during his 20-year exile in Britain. Zeman has said the new government in Prague will maintain support for Czech membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union. Despite their election victory, the Social Democrats could not cobble together a coalition with partners willing to enter a leftist administration.