and Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla following a humiliating defeat in European Parliament polls in June. Gross, 34, wants to forge an alliance with the same partners who were in Spidla's cabinet, the centrist Christian Democrats and the right-wing Freedom Union. The defection of two Freedom Union deputies had left this grouping with just 100 votes in the 200-seat lower house of parliament, one short of the majority needed to win a confidence vote prescribed by the constitution.

But one of the rebels, Marian Bielesz, quit parliament on Thursday and will be replaced by a loyal Freedom Union deputy who has said he will support the coalition. Bielesz said he quit because he could not support the coalition but at the same time wanted to avoid a situation where Gross would turn to the Communists for support.

Markets fear Communist involvement in government would result in high taxes and subsidies to industry, which might hurt growth or throw the country off track for euro adoption in 2010. The emergence of a majority also reduces the chances of an early election, demanded by the largest opposition party, the right-wing Civic Democrats. Elections are due in 2006. Gross is trying to avoid early polls, hoping his party can recover support after getting only nine percent of the vote in the European Parliament election.

Gross, a skilled negotiator, faces other challenges. He needs to convince the left wing of his own party that he has to keep the Freedom Union on board, despite the view of many in his party that the Union's rightist policies lost votes for the Social Democrats. Gross must also cut a deal with the Freedom Union and the Christian Democrats on the government programme and cabinet seats. He must convince President Vaclav Klaus that his majority is workable before Klaus officially names him as prime minister. Finally, he must win the parliamentary confidence vote. Political analyst Jiri Pehe said Gross was now likely to clear all these hurdles.

Reuters