RPT-Czech Communists shun polls, back Social Democrats

(Repeats story published late on Thursday)

PRAGUE, Oct 12 (Reuters) - The Czech Communist Party on Thursday rejected calls for early elections after the fall of the country's centre-right government, saying they wanted the left-leaning Social Democrats to try to form a cabinet.

A right-wing Civic Democrat cabinet led by Mirek Topolanek resigned on Wednesday after just over a month in office, having lost a parliamentary vote of confidence.

The Civic Democrats are pushing for a temporary cabinet made up of independent experts and want polls to be held next spring in the hope that they will win enough votes to build a parliamentary majority.

But the centre-left parties, which have held 100 of the 200 seats in parliament since inconclusive polls in June, think they have a better chance of forming a workable government.

Pavel Kovacik, head of the Communists' parliamentary caucus, told a news conference his party was not willing to support early elections.

"We believe that talks on early elections should not be on the agenda right now," said Kovacik, adding that the Social Democrats, who came in second behind the Civic Democrats in the election, should get a shot at forming a cabinet.

"In the second attempt, we prefer that someone from the Social Democrats has a try," he said.

Political analysts say the left-leaning parties are unlikely to be able to form a workable coalition as parliament is split evenly and no deputy from the centre-right parties has so far shown any willingness to switch sides.

The most likely outcome would be months of political stalemate and eventual polls, they said.

The quickest way to early polls would be an agreement to cut short the election period, which would require a constitutional amendment and thus at least 120 votes in the lower house and three-fifths of those present in the upper house, the Senate.

Alternatively an early election could be called by President Vaclav Klaus if three successive governments fail to win confidence votes.

Klaus has said he will not name a new prime minister until after local and Senate elections to be held later this month.

He has said an early election would be the best way out of the political crisis which has prevented any serious attempts to slash the budget deficit next year and may lead to a provisional budget if no spending plan is adopted by the split parliament. ((Reporting by Jan Korselt, writing by Jan Lopatka, editing by Chris Johnson; prague.newsroom@reuters.com; Reuters Messaging: jan.lopatka.reuters.com@reuters.net; +420-224 190 474))

Keywords: CZECH POLITICS