Czech Civic Democrats jump in opinion poll

PRAGUE, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Support for the ruling right-wing Civic Democrats in the Czech Republic has risen after months of a political stalemate which threatens to force an early election, a poll showed on Thursday.

The survey by the private STEM agency predicted a centre-right bloc led by the Civic Democrats would win 109 seats in the lower house of parliament against 91 seats for the combined leftist Social Democrats and the far-left Communists.

The poll confirmed some other public opinion research in the past months that showed a rise in popularity for the party which formed a minority cabinet earlier this month, but seems set to lose a confidence vote in early October.

The poll showed support for the Civic Democrats rose to 32.8 percent from 26.7 percent in May. The leftist Social Democrats scored 26.6 percent, up from 25.2 percent in May.

The figures include undecided voters and those who named no party, which means that actual election results would give the main parties a larger portion of the vote.

In the June election, the Civic Democrats won 35.4 percent and the Social Democrats won 32.3 percent.

In the election, the three-party centre right bloc including the Civic Democrats, the centrist Christian Democrats and the Green Party won 100 seats, with the other 100 going to the Social Democrats and the Communists.

The Civic Democrats want to hold an early election next year but do not have enough support to call it. If there is no agreement on the next government or on an election, the president can call fresh polls after three attempts to form a cabinet fail.

The poll was taken among 1,546 Czechs on Sept. 1-8.

A separate poll by the Factum Invenio agency earlier this week showed the centre-right parties would win 104 seats but actual support for the main parties was very close to the June election results. ((Reporting by Jan Lopatka, editing by Paul Casciato; prague.newsroom@reuters.com; Reuters Messaging: jan.lopatka.reuters.com@reuters.net; +420-224 190 474))

Keywords: CZECH POLITICS POLL