* Polls give five right-wing opposition parties majority
* Ruling party denies illegal funding tape is authentic
By Martin Santa
BRATISLAVA, June 11 (Reuters) - Slovakia's centre-right
opposition has a good chance of ousting leftist Prime Minister
Robert Fico in Saturday's election as the ruling party is
grappling with allegations of improper funding eight years ago.
Voters are split between economic liberals, whose reforms
led Slovakia into the European Union and earned billions in
foreign investment, and Fico, whose tough stance against big
business and efforts to protect workers appeal to poorer people.
The last two pre-election opinion polls, released on
Thursday [] and Friday [], showed the
ruling SMER party would win the June 12 vote but would be unable
to cobble together a majority to form a government.
After consistently leading the polls, SMER suffered a drop
in popularity this week after Slovak media published a tape
recording suggesting the party received illegal funding in the
2002 election campaign.
SMER has denied claims that it did not account for some of
its funding in 2002 and accused rivals of leading an illegal
campaign against it. Opposition parties rejected its
accusations.
Fico denied the authenticity of the tape and said he had
done nothing wrong. "There is an illegal campaign going on,
which is aimed at causing a scandal for one political subject
which forms the basis of the ruling coalition and the Slovak
government (SMER)," Fico told reporters on Friday.
Fico said he had filed a lawsuit against the daily SME, one
of the papers and broadcasters which had published the
recording. The Attorney General said the office would launch an
investigation into the case.
Fico also came under the media spotlight for awarding 17,000
euros to a fitness model, at a time when Slovakia was fighting
its worst floods in history and public funds were needed to
supply the badly hit regions.
Former Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda, Fico's main rival
and head of the opposition SDKU party, pulled out of the
election race over accusations of money laundering in February.
Like Fico he denied breaking any law.
Fico took power in 2006 and cut a power-sharing deal with
the far-right Nationalists (SNS) and the HZDS party of former
authoritarian prime minister Vladimir Meciar.
Dzurinda's SDKU, the strongest opposition party, has said a
centre-right coalition with the Christian Democrats (KDH),
liberal Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) and two ethnic Hungarian
parties SMK and Most-Hid is the best option for Slovaks.
Such a government may refuse to pay its share of the Greek
bailout package, showing how the sovereign debt crisis has
eroded European unity and highlighting tensions generated by the
bailout for euro zone debtors. []
Slovakia, which joined the euro zone only in 2009 and is
much poorer than Greece, is due to vote in July on its 800
million euro ($960 million) contribution to the 110 billion euro
bailout for Athens.
A centre-right coalition would include ethnic Hungarian
parties and would help improve relations with Budapest, which
have worsened since Fico picked SNS as a partner.
The euro zone's youngest member is emerging from recession
and needs to make further reforms in its pension system and
reduce government spending to consolidate its fiscal position,
as planned. The 2010 fiscal gap is seen at 5.5 percent of GDP.
Dzurinda's previous centre-right government introduced a 19
percent flat tax on income and corporate profits which lured
foreign direct investment worth billions of euros, notably in
the car industry, and investors favour a return of this trend.
Fico advocates a strong state role in the economy but has
departed little from orthodox policies.
