A leftist party led by one of the few leading politicians in Slovakia to escape voter anger over a major corruption scandal has been propelled back into power in an early parliamentary election, according to final results today.

Slovakia’s parliament has voted to amend the constitution to allow a caretaker government to lead the country until early elections.

ITALY braced for a confidence vote in Silvio Berlusconi’s government and Slovak leaders scrambled to secure approval for a stronger euro zone rescue fund yesterday, highlighting the political hurdles to resolving the bloc’s debt crisis.

Slovakia’s president is cutting short a trip to Asia to return home to help solve a political crisis after parliament refused to endorse more powers for an EU bailout fund and the government collapsed.

Slovakia’s governing coalition has failed to strike a deal to prevent the collapse of a plan to rescue heavily indebted European nations.