Rightist party breaks ranks with Slovak PM

BRATISLAVA, May 30 (Reuters) Slovakia's junior ruling Christian Democrats today rejected a call by Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda for a united centre-right bloc after June elections, saying they would be open to other coalitions.

Dzurinda is battling for a record third term after pushing through economic reforms which put Slovakia on the path to euro adoption in 2009 but hurt many poorer voters, boosting support for leftist opposition Smer party.

Dzurinda has called on the two centre-right parties allied with his Democratic and Christian Union (SDKU) to stick together after the June 17 vote to head off Smer's challenge.

But Christian Democrat leader Pavol Hrusovsky said Dzurinda could not take his party's support for granted even though the two had similar programmes.

''We and Dzurinda's party have similar programmes,'' Hrusovsky was quoted as saying in the daily Pravda. ''But Dzurinda's style and methods are unacceptable.'' Relations between the two parties soured in February, when Dzurinda blocked the passage of a treaty with the Vatican that the Christian Democrats favoured.

Dzurinda, central Europe's longest serving premier, led former reform laggard Slovakia into the European Union in 2004.

His popularity has been dented by allegations of high-ranking corruption, infighting in his government and weariness many Slovaks feel with free-market reforms.

The prime minister's critics say he is authoritarian in dealing with coalition partners and blame his iron grip for a string of defections from his party in the previous term.

The ruling centre-right parties -- Dzurinda's SDKU, the Christian Democrats and the ethnic Hungarian party -- have about 10 per cent support each in opinion polls, trailing behind Smer with about 30 per cent.

Four other groups are likely to enter parliament, including communists and radical nationalists, making any coalition negotiations difficult, analysts say.

Hrusovsky made clear his party was prepared to negotiate with all parties except the communists and the HZDS, whose head, former prime minister Vladimir Meciar, led Slovakia into international isolation in the 1990s.

''We feel we are strong enough to coordinate our own political steps after elections,'' Hrusovsky said.

Christian Democrats could accept changes in the free-market regime, imposed by the current government and criticised by Smer, in return for backing for its moral agenda which includes a ban on gay marriages and a tough anti-abortion stance.

Political analyst Pavol Haulik said the Christian Democrats were smart to keep their options open. ''They can always form a coalition with centre right parties if that option is available,'' he said. ''But why tie themselves down beforehand?'' REUTERS CH HS2030