VOTERS in Slovakia have rejected a free-market government that has turned their economy into one of the most successful in Central Europe.

Tired of high unemployment and a widening gap between rich and poor, they used the general election at the weekend to remove Mikulas Dzurinda, the region’s longest-serving Prime Minister, who is admired by investors in the West.

The winner was Robert Fico, a 41-year-old firebrand lawyer, who was variously described as a Bolshevik and a rabid populist in a mud-slinging campaign that has lasted much of the year.

Mr Fico leads the left- of-centre Smer party, which won 29 per cent of the vote compared with 18 per cent for the Christian Democrats of Mr Dzurinda. The big question for investors in the West is whether he will scrap, as promised, the 19 per cent flat tax that is one of the central pillars of the Slovakian economic recovery.

Together with low wage rates — the average salary is €450 (£300) a month — the flat tax is credited with generating some of the highest growth in Central Europe.

Mr Fico also said yesterday that Slovakia’s goal of adopting the euro in 2009 could be revised “if it’s not favourable for the country”.

First, however, Mr Fico has to form a workable coalition, and his options are limited.

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