* Centre-right hopes late surge will hand them majority
* PM Fico says is victim of dirty campaign tricks
* Budget, Hungary, corruption dominate vote
By Martin Santa
BRATISLAVA, June 12 (Reuters) - Slovakia's centre-right opposition parties have a solid chance to win Saturday's election and topple leftist Prime Minister Robert Fico, who has been hit by last-minute allegations of a party funding scandal.
Slovaks must choose 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.
Three final pre-election opinion polls, released on Thursday [
] and Friday [ ], showed the ruling leftist SMER party would win the vote but, for the first time, showed it might not be able to form a majority coalition.The centre-right SDKU, the strongest opposition party, has envisaged a coalition with the Christian Democrats (KDH), the liberal Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) and two ethnic Hungarian parties that would have a majority in the 150-seat parliament.
SDKU leader Iveta Radicova said in a final television debate on Friday night her party would work to make it easier for businesses to create jobs, rather than squeezing the sector.
"SDKU's focus is on solutions, creating new jobs, supporting the middle class and better law enforcement," she said.
Fico retaliated by saying that right-wing policies were only good for the top-earning elite.
"Solidarity is a word you know nothing about," he said. "You only see the world through the eyes of the rich, and we see the world through those of the vast majority."
Analysts say a centre-right government might be better placed to cut the yawning budget deficit, reduce corruption and improve strained relations with southern neighbour Hungary.
Bilateral ties, long chilly, have deteriorated further since the far-right Slovak National Party joined Fico's government in 2006 and since right-winger Viktor Orban won an election in Hungary in April on a ticket including a fight for the rights of Hungarian minorities abroad.
Business sees the centre-right as more pro-market, and especially less hostile to the big utility companies that Fico has tried to squeeze to guarantee low energy prices.
GREEK BAILOUT PROBLEM
One risk for European partners is that a centre-right government may refuse to pay its 800 million euro share of the EU bailout of Greece, showing how the sovereign debt crisis has eroded European unity and highlighting tensions generated by the bailout for euro zone debtors. [
]Polling stations open at 7 a.m. (0500 GMT) on Saturday and first results are expected at around 11 p.m. (2100 GMT).
Slovakia, the euro zone's newest and poorest member, is emerging from recession and needs to further reform its pension system and reduce government spending to consolidate its fiscal position. The 2010 fiscal deficit is forecast to be 5.5 percent of GDP but analysts have said it could rise above 7 percent.
After consistently leading the polls, SMER fell back 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 illegal smear tactics. Opposition parties have denied the accusations.
Fico denied the authenticity of the tape and said he had done nothing wrong. The centre-right opposition has also been accused of graft.
Former prime minister and SDKU chief Mikulas Dzurinda pulled out of the election race over accusations of money laundering in February. Like Fico, he has denied breaking any law. (Editing by Tim Pearce)