BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - Slovakia on Wednesday dismissed U.S. criticism of a controversial new election law as "inaccurate" in its latest rejection of Western questioning about its commitment to democracy. The U.S. State Department had said on Tuesday that the new law could prevent general elections on September 25 and 26 from being free and fair. "The Slovak Foreign Ministry...points out that the U.S. state department spokesman`s text contains several factual inaccuracies," a ministry statement said. Last week, European Commissioner Hans van den Broek also criticised the law in a wide-ranging condemnation of the Slovak government`s commitment to democracy. Slovak Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar has frequently been accused by foreign governments, human rights groups and his parliamentary opponents of backsliding on democracy. He and his government have rejected the attacks, saying they are ill-informed and based on double standards. In the latest criticism, the U.S. State Department called on Slovakia to revise the new election law, saying it would make it harder for two opposition groupings to get into parliament and limit election campaigning to state-owned radio and television. But the Slovak Foreign Ministry said the law was passed by parliament and not by the government, as the U.S. had said, and that, in any case, the Slovak government had no right to expound on legal matters. The law was proposed by members of Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar`s party and accepted by his government before being passed by parliament. The foreign ministry said concerns about restrictions on the media were "groundless". It did not elaborate. The U.S. State Department had also questioned the timing of the legislation and said it was concerned that the interior ministry, whose activities it has criticised in the past, would gain extra powers. The Slovak statement did not address either issue. The government trails the combined opposition badly in the opinion polls and opposition parties say the changes are aimed specifically at them. Mečiar has said the law is simply intended to streamline existing arrangements. The Slovak foreign ministry statement said senior Slovak politicians had repeatedly stressed that September`s elections would be "free, democratic and fair." Post-communist Slovakia was excluded from the first wave of countries invited to begin European Union and NATO accession talks because of alleged failings in its democratic system.