Slovak leftist leader seeks to form government

BRATISLAVA, June 18 (Reuters) Slovak leftist leader Robert Fico claimed election victory over Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda today and said he would try to form a government that would aim to roll back economic and social reforms.

But his Smer party failed to secure an outright majority, meaning Fico will have to build a coalition and in a sign of how tough that task will be, Dzurinda did not concede defeat and said the centre-right was in a ''strong position''.

Full preliminary results showed Smer had 29.1 per cent of the votes.

Dzurinda's party was second with 18.4 per cent and he could yet stay in power for a record third term if Fico fails to forge a coalition after Saturday's elections, the first in the former communist country since it joined the European Union in 2004.

The outcome of coalition talks will likely decide the future of Dzurinda's bold tax and welfare reforms and whether Slovakia will adopt the euro single currency in 2009 as planned.

The combined vote tally for Dzurinda's Democratic and Christian Union and two possible allies was just over 38 percent, better than pre-election opinion surveys had suggested, but not enough to secure a majority in the 150-seat parliament.

RIVAL PLEDGES Fico has vowed to reverse Slovakia's internationally lauded economic reforms, saying they were too painful for ordinary people and that only the rich were benefiting from the Eastern European state's economic boom.

The 41-year-old Fico said the results, more than doubling the votes Smer won in 2002 elections, were fantastic and meant a shift to the left in government policies.

''It will be a solidarity programme that will react to the great divide between the richer and poorer regions of the country,'' he told supporters outside Smer's headquarters before leading them in singing the Slovak national anthem.

Economic analysts say Fico's promises of more welfare spending could lead to higher fiscal deficits and delay euro zone entry even though he has pledged to respect the target.

President Ivan Gasparovic is likely to first ask Fico to form a government. If Fico fails, Gasparovic would turn to Dzurinda, 51, Eastern Europe's longest-serving leader.

One of Smer's options is to court centre-right parties that have ruled together with Dzurinda, but they reject Fico's criticism of the prime minister's reforms.

Dzurinda called on the two parties -- the Ethnic Hungarian Party and the Christian Democrats -- to stick together and fend off the left to keep the country on the reform path.

''We have quite a strong position together and I hope our cooperation will be effective and productive,'' he said.

Fico could also secure a majority by teaming up with the centre-left led by former Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar and far-right National Party, but such parties would be likely to receive a cool reception from Slovakia's EU partners.

The nationalists came third with 11.7 percent.

But analysts say Meciar, blamed for pushing Slovakia into international isolation in the 1990s with his authoritarian rule, may be more palatable partner for both Fico and Dzurinda, emerging as a kingmaker in coalition talks.

Reuters CH GC1252