Bratislava  - Voters in Slovakia began going to the polls Saturday in elections for eight regional parliaments in what was seen as a test for the coalition government of Premier Robert Fico a half a year before national elections.

Some 4.2 million eligible voters were being called to the polls, which were also to help determine the election of the regional presidents. A run-off vote for the direct election of the presidents is set for two weeks later.

The governing coalition of Fico's social democratic Smer (direction) party and two nationalist parties, in power since 2006, is facing for the first time a genuine test at the national level.

While opinion surveys show the Smer to be by far the most popular throughout the countrys, the party's performance in last June's European Parliament elections was well below the survey figures.

More closely watched will be how the two nationalist coalition partners fare. Latest surveys showed them both hovering just around the critical 5 per cent level of support needed for entering the national parliament.

In recent interviews, Fico had signalled that he would be glad to jettison one of the two nationalist parties in a future government.

Also being closely watched is how an openly declared extreme rightist party, Slovenska pospolitost (Slovakian Community), fares in the Banska Bystrica region, where for the first time in Slovakian history the party has at least an outside chance of providing a regional president.

The party's candidate faces two others from the government camp who might split the vote and thereby enable him to win.

The Slovenska pospolitost has stirred up anti-Roma sentiment and was actually banned last year for racial incitement. But Slovakia's constitutional court overturned the ban on technical grounds.  (dpa)