Slovakia held its parliamentary elections on Saturday, with 21 parties competing for 150 seats of the parliament.

Under Slovakia's law, any party which gets more than 5 percent of the vote is eligible to enter the parliament.

Voters begin casting ballots at 7 a.m. (0500 GMT) and polling stations close at 10 p.m. (2000 GMT) on Saturday. Initial results are expected by early Sunday morning, and the final results will be announced on Sunday night.

Slovakia's main opposition Smer-Socialist Democratic Party led by Robert Fico was expected to win the balloting with 28 percent of votes, 4 percent less than polls showed earlier this month, according to a survey conducted by the Bratislava-based MVK agency last week.

Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda's Slovak Democratic and Christian Movement was projected to receive some 12 percent of backing.

The economic reforms during Dzurinda's two terms have pushed the eastern European country into NATO and the EU in 2004, and foreign investment als flooded in and its economy chalked up robust growth of 6.1 percent in 2005.

However, unemployment is running high in the country's free-market economy and the gap between rich and poor is widening.

His biggest competitor, left-wing Smer-Socialist Democratic Party leader Robert Fico, has vowed to roll back many of Dzurinda's reforms and restore social benefits.

"It's a classic battle between liberal values, a free market and minimal government intervention in the economy party and a party that wants a strong welfare state and a social safety net," said Martin Slosiarik, an analyst at polling agency FOCUS.

Although 21 parties are competing in the elections, opinion polls say only five other parties other than Dzurinda's bloc and Smer are likely to make it past the five-percent threshold needed to enter parliament. And since no party is expected to win enough votes to gain an outright majority in the 150-seat parliament and form a Cabinet, a coalition government is likely to be formed.

Opinion polls have highlighted election apathy among voters. Some political analysts predict turnout will be below 60 percent, down from the 70 percent recorded in 2002.

Such fears prompted President Ivan Gasparovic on Thursday to urge Slovak's 3.4 million eligible voters to turn out in force before the 5,900 polling stations close.

The vote is the fourth for Slovakia since its independence.

Source: Xinhua