* Results show centre-right wins majority and can oust Fico
* Fico to get first try to form govt, stands little chance
* Budget, Hungary, corruption dominate vote
(Adds president's comments, Hungarian reaction)
By Martin Santa and Jan Lopatka
BRATISLAVA, June 13 (Reuters) - Centre-right parties won a
majority in Slovakia's election at the weekend and looked set to
oust Prime Minister Robert Fico with a coalition focused on
cutting the budget gap and mending ties with neighbour Hungary.
Although preliminary results showed that Fico's SMER party
had garnered the most support in the Saturday election with 34.8
percent of the vote, they gave 79 of parliament's 150 seats to
four centre-right and ethnic Hungarian parties.
The conservative SDKU, which ruled the euro zone's poorest
country from 1998 to 2006, came in second at 15.4 percent and
has started coalition talks with the conservative Christian
Democrats (KDH), the newly formed liberal Freedom and Solidarity
party (SaS), and the ethnic Hungarian Most-Hid party.
The SDKU introduced a flat tax rate, sold major state firms
and overhauled the pension and welfare sectors during its
previous stint in government. It also led Slovakia into the EU
in 2004.
"SMER is the winner of the election, but it is not enough to
be the winner. You also need to be able to form a government,"
said SDKU leader Iveta Radicova.
"Our wish is that this country will be called the tiger of
Europe once again," she added.
Analysts say a centre-right grouping would be better placed
to cut a budget deficit that hit 6.8 percent of gross domestic
product last year.
Slovakia's export-reliant economy, which shrank by 4.7
percent last year, has been recovering and the EU forecasts 2.7
percent growth this year, the bloc's fastest along with Poland.
OPPOSITION UNITED
Although Fico, popular for a tough leadership style that
favoured average Slovaks over big business, has little chance of
retaining power, President Ivan Gasparovic said he planned to
stick with the tradition of asking the strongest party to try to
form a government.
He added, however, that ultimately it would be the group
that can guarantee a majority that would form the government.
All four centre-right party leaders rejected calls from Fico
for cooperation and political analyst Samuel Abraham said he had
"almost zero chance" of staying in office.
"We need a change. We need honest politics to prevail," said
KDH chief Jan Figel.
A centre-right grouping would be expected to try to tackle
widespread corruption and improve relations with Hungary, amid
strains over the rights of Slovakia's half a million Hungarian
minority.
Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen welcomed the
likely formation of a centre-right government on Sunday, telling
the MTI news agency it was a "very big result".
Slovaks adopted the euro in 2009 and, with living standards
at just 72 percent of the EU average, have questioned whether
they should help richer debt-laden euro zone countries.
SDKU and SaS have said they would refuse to pay Slovakia's
800-million-euro share of the EU bailout for Greece. Some
analysts have said they may back off the threat if they form
government.
(Additional reporting by Michael Winfrey in Bratislava and
Krisztina Than in Budapest, Editing by Noah Barkin)
