Center-Right Coalition to Form New Government

Slovak Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda said the four center-right parties to emerge from elections last month with a combined parliamentary majority have forged a coalition agreement to form a new government.

With the victory in the vote, Dzurinda and his pro-Western allies prevented a return to power by autocratic former Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar, which would have killed Slovakia’s chances of joining the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Dzurinda said his Slovak Democratic Coalition would sign the pact Tuesday with the rightist Christian Democrats, the Hungarian Coalition Party, and the business-friendly New Citizens’ Alliance.