Slovak PM Fico rebuilds parliamentary majority, shoring up government

(Reuters) - Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico strengthened his hold over parliament on Wednesday, winning back more rebel lawmakers to fully restore a lost majority after disputes and defections had hampered his government in recent months.

Bickering in the three-party leftist-nationalist coalition left the government in a temporary minority in the 150-seat parliament earlier this year.

Fico had won back some rebel lawmakers last month with a cabinet change that gave him a fragile majority.

On Wednesday, Slovakia's president was set to appoint an unaligned lawmaker as minister for investment and development. That appointment, brokered by Fico, would boost the number of parliamentary seats controlled by his coalition to 79, the same combined number that the ruling parties won in a 2023 election.

"I think I can state that at the (next) parliamentary session, which will begin next week..., 79 should be restored, meaning that the government coalition should be able to make decisions and at the same time hold important votes," Fico said after a government meeting.

The bickering within the ruling coalition has coincided with mass public protests over a shift in Slovakia's foreign policy that critics say takes the country too close to Russia.

Fico has opposed military aid to Kyiv to prevent it from prolonging a war against Russian invaders, and he has been in dispute with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy over the halting of Russian gas supplies via Ukraine.

Protesters have called for Fico's resignation while he has defended his policy, saying it aims to strike a balance while keeping Slovakia anchored in the European Union and NATO.

Fico has accused activists and the liberal, pro-Western opposition of seeking to whip up unrest and occupy state buildings to paralyse the government, which they deny.

(Reporting by Jason Hovet in Prague; Editing by Gareth Jones)