The Czech Republic's main ruling party has met to search for a candidate to succeed Prime Minister Petr Necas who quit after a spying and bribery scandal that centred on his closest aide.

Mr Necas formally handed in his resignation to President Milos Zeman yesterday afternoon, starting the formal process of replacing the entire centre-right cabinet, which fell automatically with the prime minister.

Mr Necas quit after prosecutors charged the head of his office, Jana Nagyova, with illegally ordering agents to spy on people including Mr Necas's wife, according to lawyers.

She was also charged with bribing members of parliament to drop a rebellion against Mr Necas last year.

The outgoing prime minister's Civic Democratic Party aims to form a new government with its current two coalition partners to finish the regular four-year term expiring next May.

But for that plan to work, they need the consent of Mr Zeman, who has the sole right to appoint the next prime minister. Mr Zeman, a leftist opponent of Mr Necas, has not made any comment on who should succeed him.

A lawyer for Ms Nagyova, who is in custody, said she denied some of the allegations against her.

Earlier this week, prosecutors said Ms Nagyova's motives were "purely private".

Mr Necas announced last week that he and his wife, Radka, have filed for divorce. Newspapers have speculated about an affair between him and Ms Nagyova.