By Robert Muller
PRAGUE (Reuters) - The Czech Republic's governing coalition wants to continue in its current form but has not yet resolved a dispute over a threat from the junior ruling LIDEM party to quit, coalition officials said on Tuesday.
Persistent infighting among the three parties in Prime Minister Petr Necas's administration has cut its support to just 98 of parliament's 200 seats.
It has managed to push through crucial votes with the help of a handful of independent lawmakers but the potential departure of LIDEM could cause it to collapse only halfway through its four-year term.
LIDEM chief Karolina Peake said last month ministers from its small, centrist party would resign on January 10 after Necas sacked her as defence minister only days after her appointment.
But she signalled earlier this month that the party, whose popularity is close to zero in opinion polls, may back off its threat to quit, and coalition party officials said on Tuesday they wanted LIDEM to stay in the government.
"We have agreed on behalf of the coalition parties that we want to continue in the present coalition project," Martin Kuba, vice-chairman of Necas's Civic Democrats, told a news conference following a meeting of coalition officials.
(Reporting by Robert Mueller and Jana Mlcochova; Writing by Jason Hovet; Editing by Michael Winfrey/Mark Heinrich)
