Czech PM says to name govt by Dec 15, deal or not

PRAGUE, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said on Wednesday he would name a government by the end of next week even if he fails to reach an agreement with leftists for their coalition support.

A June election handed 100 seats to leftists and 100 to centrist and right-wing parties in the lower house and nearly six months of political deadlock has ensued.

A minority cabinet of Topolanek's right-wing Civic Democrats has already lost a confidence vote, and the party's attempt to form a temporary four-party coalition with the Social Democrats, centrist Greens and Christian Democrats failed when the leftists refused to take part.

"We set the end of next week as a final deadline for this attempt. We will either have a government with the negotiated support (of partners including the Social Democrats) or a government without a secured majority (in parliament)," Topolanek said after meeting President Vaclav Klaus.

Topolanek said it remained unclear what the set up of the government will be, but he would present a draft policy programme to the Social Democrats later this evening.

Social Democrat leader Jiri Paroubek, who on Tuesday said a coalition deal must be reached by Dec. 15, has pushed for a three-party solution involving his party, the Civic Democrats and the Christian Democrats.

This would last at least three years and carry out reforms to allow the country to adopt the euro by 2012.

The Civic Democrats want four parties to be a part of an agreement on a new government, though not all had to take cabinet seats.

If the Social Democrats back out of the talks for good, Topolanek is likely to form a three-party coalition with the Christian Democrats and the Green Party.

He would need at least one leftist deputy to cross the floor to win a confidence vote in parliament, an unlikely occurence given Paroubek's tight grip on his party.

Topolanek, whose party has favoured an early election, has said the length of any coalition government mandate would depend on the range of reforms the parties agreed on, as more reforms would justify a longer rule.

If Topolanek's second attempt to form a government fails, the house speaker chooses a third candidate to make an attempt. The current house speaker is a Social Democrat, though he was elected under an agreement to step down before choosing a new candidate.

If three attempts to form a government fail, the president may call an early election. ((Reporting by Alan Crosby; prague.newsroom@reuters.com; Reuters Messaging: alan.crosby.reuters.com@reuters.net; +420 224 190 477))

Keywords: CZECH POLITICS/