Czech president may name new PM soon - analyts

By Alan Crosby

PRAGUE, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Czech President Vaclav Klaus might name a new prime minister after his proposal for a "rainbow coalition" government failed to force an end to a five-month stand-off in parliament.

On Friday Klaus proposed to leaders of the five parties in parliament an interim solution to create a government after a June election ended in deadlock with centre-right and leftist parties each winning 100 seats.

Klaus gave the parties until Tuesday to decide, but the leftist Social Democrats rejected the move and other parties have been lukewarm to the proposal, which sees the broad coalition ruling for a limited time and then early elections.

Klaus' spokesman Petr Hajek said the president may "launch his own initiative" if a Tuesday meeting fails to make progress.

Hajek would not elaborate, but analysts said Klaus might soon pick a new prime minister -- either a politically unaffiliated expert, or a party leader.

"The responsibility for proposing a workable government is falling on his shoulders, but his options are almost gone ... Klaus must put concrete chips on the table," said political commentator Erik Best.

"No one knows what Klaus will do, but a radical move that re-establishes his own position, wins the Social Democrats' sympathy, and throws the (rightist) Civic Democrats off guard can't be ruled out. Klaus could perhaps achieve this by appointing Jiri Paroubek today or tomorrow."

Paroubek, whose Social Democrats finished second in the election, has long been seeking the nomination and has stepped up his calls for Klaus to ask him to try to form a government after rightist Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek was appointed and then failed to win a parliamentary vote of confidence.

Klaus has said he will not appoint any government that would rely upon one or two deputies who cross the lower house floor, and Paroubek has not said where he would get a majority.

Paroubek, who ruled for around a year until the election, remains adamant that he be given a chance either with Klaus' nomination, or through a nomination from the house speaker.

"In civilised countries it is normal to give an opportunity to the chairman of the second strongest party in case the election winner fails," said political commentator Jiri Hanak.

Topolanek, buoyed by the dominance of his Civic Democrats in recent Senate and municipal votes, wants new elections early next year.

If two governments fail, the third is chosen by the house speaker. If the third government fails, the president can call early elections within 60 days. Otherwise, parliament must vote with a three-fifths majority to dissolve itself and trigger an election.

((Reporting by Alan Crosby; prague.newsroom@reuters.com; Reuters Messaging: alan.crosby.reuters.com@reuters.net; +420 224 190 477))

Keywords: CZECH POLITICS