Czechs want early vote to break deadlock -poll

By Jan Lopatka

PRAGUE, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Most Czechs want an early election to break a parliamentary stalemate that has crippled political activity since a national ballot in June, an opinion poll showed on Friday.

The survey by the STEM agency showed 62 percent wanted early elections and most of those polled suggested they should take place this autumn or next spring.

The June election ended in a tie between three centre-right parties on one side and the leftist Social Democrats and the far-left Communists on the other. Both sides took 100 seats in the 200-seat lower house.

The right-wing Civic Democrats have formed a minority coalition government and say they want to hold an early election in the spring.

But they are almost certain to lose a confidence vote due by Oct. 4 and they also lack support from other parties for the early election plan.

The two small centrist parties, the Christian Democrats and the Greens, have not decided whether to support the cabinet, while the Social Democrats and the Communists have said they would vote against it.

No agreement on a new government is expected at least until local and upper house elections in late October, which will test support for the individual parties' negotiating tactics in recent months.

Analysts expect there will eventually be some agreement between the big parties on a temporary government and early elections.

If there is no agreement, the president can call an election after three successive governments fail to win a confidence vote.

The political stalemate has prevented any decisive steps to cut the fiscal deficit, expected to jump to 4.6 percent of gross domestic product next year, far above previous targets, mostly on the back of rising social spending and despite strong economic growth.

The STEM poll, taken among 1,546 Czechs between Sept. 1 and 8, showed support for early elections was similar among voters of all parties. ((Reporting by Jan Lopatka; editing by Steve Pagani; prague.newsroom@reuters.com; Reuters Messaging: jan.lopatka.reuters.com@reuters.net; +420-224 190 474))

Keywords: CZECH