* Election to check PM's popularity before general vote
* Current president seen re-elected
By Peter Laca
BRATISLAVA, April 2 (Reuters) - Slovakia's president is
expected to win a second term in a run-off election on Saturday,
in a vote set to test the popularity of Prime Minister Robert
Fico a year before a parliamentary poll.
Ivan Gasparovic, president since 2004, was endorsed by Fico
and he will face the strongest opposition candidate Iveta
Radicova in the contest for the largely ceremonial post.
He won the first round with 46.70 percent of the vote, a
robust result, as expected, after the 68-year old lawyer
maintained a big lead in opinion polls before the vote.
But Radicova, a 52-year-old sociologist and former Social
Affairs Minister in the previous reformist cabinet put forward
by the Christian Democrat SDKU faction, got what analysts said
was a surprisingly large 38.05 percent in the March vote.
Observers said the vote would indicate the political
landscape for the general poll to be held in the summer 2010.
"This, in essence, is a test of popularity of Robert Fico
and his Smer party," said Pavel Haulik, a sociologist and the
head of MVK polling agency.
"And, maybe even more, it is a test for the opposition of
what it can offer for the next election."
The central European state of 5.4 million has lost thousands
of jobs as demand drops for its exports -- mainly cars and TV
sets -- but has not had to bail out any of its banks.
The leftist Fico, who came to power in 2006 with an agenda
of helping the poor, has intensified his efforts to strengthen
the government's role in the economy in recent months saying a
strong state was the best way to tackle the economic crisis.
Fico has said first ever contraction was possible this year,
after 6.4 percent economic growth in 2008, and the unemployment
rate is at its highest in two and a half years.
After overseeing Slovakia's euro zone entry in January, Fico
is trying to keep the fiscal deficit within the EU's limit while
juggling slowing budget revenues and the promise to keep
expanded welfare programmes intact.
LOYAL PRESIDENT
Gasparovic has praised Fico's ambition to improve the living
standards of those left behind by the market reforms of the
previous centre-right administration.
The president raised eyebrows this month when local media
played a video footage of him telling a closed-door meeting he
was close to Fico's Smer faction and that his defeat would be
bad for the ruling coalition.
Analysts said Fico needed a president who would not exercise
his right of veto on laws, although parliament can overturn his
veto, and who would pick him to lead talks on the new government
next year.
"He needs a guarantee that a loyal president would not
complicate his executive command," said Grigorij Meseznikov, the
head of the Institute for Public Affairs, a think-tank.
"In light of the parliamentary election, Gasparovic in
office raises chances that Fico will be asked to form the
government. In this respect, Gasparovic is an insurance of power
for Fico," Meseznikov said.
(Factbox of presidential powers and candidates [])
(Additional reporting by Martin Santa; Editing by Louise
Ireland)
