Poland heads for early elections to end turmoil

WARSAW, Aug 12 (Reuters) Poland headed today towards early elections to end the government crisis that blew up a month ago between the conservative ruling Kaczynski twins and their volatile mix of leftist and far-right partners.

The party of Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski and his brother Lech, the president, gave its approval yesterday for a snap parliamentary vote, and the prime minister said he expected elections to be held by November -- two years early.

The Kaczynskis have presided over a thriving economy in the former communist EU member, but have fought almost constantly with their coalition partners and won a reputation as troublemakers in the European Union.

The latest crisis began over the sacking of deputy prime minister Andrzej Lepper, leader of a small rural leftist faction in the coalition, because of a corruption probe. He denies any wrongdoing and has launched vitriolic attacks on the Kaczynskis.

''Things have gone too far,'' said Marek Migalski, a political analyst from University of Silesia. ''Elections are highly likely in the fall.'' Parliament reconvenes on Aug. 22 after its summer break and could then vote to dissolve itself ahead of new elections, although the prime minister will still have the chance to pull back before then.

OPPOSITION KEEN The main opposition group, the pro-business Civic Platform, is keen to hold elections quickly. It recently widened its opinion poll lead to 12 percentage points over the Kaczynskis' Law and Justice.

Lepper's party, Self-Defence, and the other coalition group, the nationalist League of Polish Families, could struggle to win any seats individually, and plan an alliance called League and Self-Defence -- known as LiS, which means ''fox''.

The president, who would not face re-election, has said he favours an early poll.

If elections are called, the campaign is likely to be every bit as bitter as the current row.

The leader of the League of Polish Families announced that the prime minister had told him he had tapes of top politicians that were so shocking they would ''make people's shoes fall off''.

A government spokesman said this was untrue.

Lepper was questioned today by prosecutors looking into the handling of the investigation into land sales that led to his sacking. He has not been charged with any offence and was not questioned on any accusations against him.

Markets have grown used to political fireworks and have shown little reaction to the latest troubles.

Some pundits believe early elections could lead to a government more likely to speed up economic reforms and accelerate the process of meeting criteria to join the euro currency zone.

REUTERS JT VC1720