* New leader rules out grand coalition
* Analyst says it still remains an option
By Robert Mueller
PRAGUE, March 29 (Reuters) - The new election leader of the
Czech right-wing Civic Democrats ruled out forming a grand
coalition with the main leftist party after parliamentary polls
in May, saying the leftist spending agenda made a compromise
impossible.
The leftist Social Democrats lead opinion polls but are
almost certain to fall short of an overall majority, which has
led to speculation of a possible grand coalition that would have
enough votes to push through unpopular fiscal reforms.
The country has had a string of weak governments that have
failed to win support for a revamp of pensions or healthcare,
and has been run by a caretaker cabinet since last year's
collapse of a Civic Democrat-led administration.
But Petr Necas, new election leader for the Civic Democrats
since the resignation of Mirek Topolanek from the party's ticket
last week, spoke out strongly against a grand coalition with the
Social Democrats, led by former prime minister Jiri Paroubek.
"Whoever looks at the numbers will see such rejection by the
Social Democrats of the necessity to make structural reforms to
halt the growth of public debt that I have no idea what any
coalition compromise would be built on," Necas said.
"I completely rule out a grand coalition with Paroubek-like,
irresponsible, populist Social Democrats," he told reporters.
Opinion polls show the Social Democrats would win but may
find it hard to form a majority coalition with natural partners,
the small centrist parties. They may form a minority cabinet
backed by others, including the far-left Communists.
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For graphs showing the development of support for the main
parties, click on http://r.reuters.com/veb24j and
http://r.reuters.com/hef34j
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Both main parties promise to cut the central European EU
member country's budget gap below 3 percent of gross domestic
product by 2012-2013 and take measures to stem corruption that
has become a key campaign topic.
The right wing warns that leftist tax-and-spend policies
would bring a debt crisis similar to the one in Greece, while
the leftists say the country's low debt load means there is no
threat of such a scenario.
Political analyst Pavel Saradin said such a strong rejection
of a grand coalition may just be posturing, and did not rule it
out.
"I do not see grand coalition as probable, but there are a
thousand options in politics ... If I were the head of a
right-wing party, I would be saying the same," he said.
Some analysts have said the Civic Democrats may get a boost
from the selection of Necas to replace Topolanek who quit under
pressure over remarks that were seen as unwillingly insensitive
to the church, homosexuals and Jews.
Topolanek remains nominally the party chairman for the
moment, but he will not run in the election and Necas is the
party's candidate for prime minister.
Necas, a veteran Civic Democrats who had served as the
labour and social affairs minister, has the image of a
conservative figure with no damaging legacy of graft scandals
that has burdened others in his party.
A strong showing by the Civic Democrats may allow for the
creation of a centre-right coalition even if the Social
Democrats get the biggest share of the vote.
(Reporting by Robert Mueller, writing by Jan Lopatka)
