Bratislava - Slovaks began voting for their new head of state on Saturday, in an election that is likely to turn into a duel between the centre-left government and the right-wing opposition.

The race is led by the incumbent, President Ivan Gasparovic, 67, who is supported by highly-popular Prime Minister Robert Fico, an association heavily employed in the campaign.

Polls showed that lawmaker Iveta Radicova, 52, the joint opposition candidate, is the only one of the six remaining contenders who stands a chance to defeat the president.

According to recent surveys, Gasparovic would receive around a half of the vote while Radicova trails behind by 10 to 20 per cent.

Analysts, who consider a victory in the first round highly unlikely, expect her to make it to a run-off planned for April 4.

The president, who faces criticism for what analysts call a dull performance during his five years in office, campaigned on nationalist and welfare values. He embodies the post-communist years.

A former law lecturer, Gasparovic is seen as an accidental head of state, who was elected after unexpectedly proceeding to the presidential run-off in 2004.

Voters chose him as a lesser evil over former premier Vladimir Meciar, a highly-divisive authoritarian politician whose undemocratic and anti-Western politics brought the Central European country of 5.4 million into isolation in 1990s.

Gasparovic, a parliament speaker between 1994-1998, had been Meciar's close ally but the two politicians fell out in 2002.

Radicova, a sociology professor who entered politics three years ago as a labour minister, would be Slovakia's first female president.

Representing dynamic and cosmopolitan Slovakia, she ran an Obama- style campaign, backed by celebrities and academics.

She is a deputy of the opposition Slovak Democratic and Christian Union but her liberal views on abortion earned her harsh criticism from the Roman Catholic leaders, the main church in Slovakia.

Polling stations close at 10 pm CET (2100 GMT) and first results should be available early Sunday. (dpa)