Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka meets with President Milos Zeman at Prague Castle in Prague, Czech Republic May 4, 2017. REUTERS/David W Cerny

PRAGUE (Reuters) - The successor as Czech prime minister to Social Democrat Bohuslav Sobotka, who has announced his resignation, should be from the same party, President Milos Zeman said in a television interview on Thursday.

Zeman said he preferred the new cabinet have the same make-up as the departing one and include the same three political parties.

He said Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek and Interior Minister Milan Chovanec were potential candidates as premier. He could also not rule out Pavel Belobradek, the chief of the smallest government party, the centrist Christian Democrats.