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Next Friday Czech MPs will vote on whether to dissolve the lower house with the aim of setting up early elections. Four parties capable of putting together the constitutional majority required have - at least on paper – agreed that early elections are the next step. But will the vote in the end be in favour? And what can we expect from President Miloš Zeman?

The Czech Republic appears to be on course for early general elections after Wednesday’s failed vote of confidence in the interim government exposed fissures in the previous coalition, which had been hoping for another crack at power. The alliance has now fallen apart, with the votes of former member TOP 09 set to tip the balance and bring about the dissolution of Parliament.

Wednesday’s vote of confidence in the caretaker government made clear several new realities on the Czech political scene. The country has moved closer to early elections with enough MPs saying they will now support the move. But despite “his” government’s failure to win approval, the vote seems to have reinforced President Miloš Zeman’s dominant position. I discussed the outcome of the vote with commentator Erik Best.

Only a few days ago the head of the Social Democratic Party Bohuslav Sobotka was resolute that the caretaker government – more or less handpicked by the president – should not be given legitimacy. But pressure from within, whipped up by deputy leader Michal Hašek and a strong pro-Zeman faction, proved stronger. Mr Sobotka backed down, and in doing may have radically changed his party’s course.

Last week’s sacking of Jan Burian as head of the National Theatre and subsequent backtracking is a situation which has not been fully resolved. Although Mr Burian agreed to tentatively return to the post after Culture Minister Jiří Balvín rescinded his decision, for some – namely top management at the theatre and actors who quit in protest– Mr Burian’s return will not be enough.

Co-designed by the world famous architect Frank Gehry and the locally based Vlado Milunic, the Dancing House is Prague’s best-known and most distinctive modern building. Now the riverfront structure, which sharply divided opinion when it was completed in the mid 1990s, is set to go on sale.

The most closely watched court case in the country’s modern history is due to begin on Wednesday. MP David Rath, former governor of central Bohemia and, before his fall from grace, one of the most influential members of the opposition Social Democratic Party is to stand trial for corruption. The MP, who faces up to 12 years in jail, says he is not expecting justice.

The Rusnok cabinet has been forced to backtrack on the latest in a series of high-profile dismissals. The head of the National Theatre Jan Burian, who was sacked on his first day in office on Thursday, has been reinstated on the orders of the prime minister. Nevertheless, the affair has sparked widespread condemnation and once again raised the question of the government’s right to make radical changes ahead of its vote of confidence in the lower house next Wednesday.

Czech Senator Petr Šilar has launched a campaign to cancel daylight saving time in the European Union. An online collection of signatures begins in the Czech Republic and Slovakia on Thursday and will later be made available to people in Germany, Holland, and other EU countries. The goal is to gather at least one million signatures within one year, and bring the issue to the attention of the EU authorities.

The Czech lower house will meet next Wednesday for a vote of confidence in the caretaker administration of Prime Minister Jiří Rusnok. The government, widely viewed as President Zeman’s puppet administration, so far lacks the support needed for it to gain legitimacy and the centre-right parties see the upcoming vote as an open clash of wills with President Miloš Zeman and an important test for the country’s parliamentary democracy.