RPT-Czech president to name rightist as PM again

(Repeats story published late on Monday)

By Alan Crosby

PRAGUE, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Czech President Vaclav Klaus said on Monday he would again nominate rightist Civic Democrat leader Mirek Topolanek as prime minister after his proposal for a "rainbow coalition" government failed.

Klaus named Topolanek as prime minister after an inconclusive June election. But with the lower house split evenly between leftist and rightist parties, the government failed to win a majority vote in October.

Klaus proposed on Friday a broad coalition of four parties in parliament -- he only excluded the far left Communists -- that would govern for a limited time before early elections.

But the leftist Social Democrats rejected that option outright and Klaus told a news conference he sees no room for a parliamentary majority agreement on a new government.

"I have always preferred an agreement of the parliamentary majority, but it is not possible to waste any more time," Klaus told a news conference.

"Therefore, I am ready to immediately appoint the chairman of the biggest party, and current (outgoing) prime minister Mirek Topolanek as the new prime minister," he added.

Former Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek, whose Social Democrats came second in the June election, has long wanted to be prime minister and stepped up his calls for Klaus to ask him to form a government after Topolanek's minority government failed.

TOPOLANEK UNDECIDED

Klaus, a rightist who founded the Civic Democrats, has been loathe to appoint Paroubek, who ruled for around a year until the election.

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

He told the news Web site aktualne.cz that the Civic Democrat leadership would meet on Tuesday to discuss the issue and what the party's stance will be toward the nomination.

"Am I going to accept it? At this moment I still cannot say," Topolanek was quoted as saying.

If two governments fail, the leader of the third is chosen by the house speaker. Miroslav Vlcek, a Social Democrat, currently holds that position, but he took it under an agreement that he would step down if a second government is toppled.

If a third government fails, the president can call early elections within 60 days. Otherwise, parliament needs a three-fifths majority vote to dissolve itself and trigger an election.

Analysts said Klaus's move is likely to draw the ire of the Social Democrats and will shore up support from the Communists for Paroubek's attempt to win his own mandate if Topolanek fails.

"Either the president has pre-negotiated a concept with Topolanek which would allow him to build a government, or the president wants to pave the way to early elections," said political scientist Petr Just. ((Reporting by Alan Crosby; prague.newsroom@reuters.com; Reuters Messaging: alan.crosby.reuters.com@reuters.net; +420 224 190 477))

Keywords: CZECH POLITICS