Leaders of Slovakia's main parties were scrambling on Wednesday to hammer out a second vote aimed at salvaging the eurozone's rescue fund, after parliament torpedoed it and the government.

Driving home the urgency of the situation, the European Union implored all Slovak political parties "to rise above the positioning of short term politics and seize the next occasion to ensure a swift adoption of the new agreement."

All 17 members of the eurozone had to back expansion of the European Financial Stability Facility, and all had done so except Slovakia, which failed in a vote late Tuesday.

But an expert warned of the instability caused by the fall of the government after Prime Minister Iveta Radicova made ratification of the EFSF a vote of confidence in her four-party coalition.

Despite the government's demise, President Ivan Gasparovic will most likely ask Radovica's administration to work in a caretaker capacity pending a snap poll, an expert said.

Slovak political heavyweights Mikulas Dzurinda, chairman of Radicova's centre-right SDKU party, and Robert Fico, the leader of the left-wing opposition Smer-SD, were already in talks on the repeat vote, sources told AFP on condition of anonymity.

But parliament was unlikely to convene on Wednesday, party officials said, so the earliest possible date for another vote to push through approval of the eurozone fund was Thursday.

Former prime minister Fico, who leads the largest party in parliament with 62 seats, has made it clear Smer-SD is ready to back the eurozone's crucial 440 billion euro ($600 billion) EFSF fund in a repeat ballot.

In return however, it wants a snap election.

"For Smer-SD, the ratification of the EFSF is a priority," Fico said Tuesday after Radicova's rebel junior coalition partner, the Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party, sank the proposal.

"Slovakia has to ratify the EFSF, without the mechanism the situation can get worse," Fico said.

In Tuesday's vote, only 55 of the 124 lawmakers present voted in favour, while nine opposed it and 60 did not vote in the 150-member chamber.

But Fico's party formally abstained, so its participation, together with that of the three former coalition partners who backed the proposal, would be enough to pass the vote comfortably.

Grigorij Meseznikov, head of the Bratislava-based Institute for Public Affairs, told AFP he expected the EFSF to be ratified, but the demise of Radicova's government has complicated future eurozone moves.

With Smer's help, the EFSF ratification would go smoothly "with a huge majority" by next week at the latest, Meseznikov said.

"Now the responsibility for the vote lies with Smer, as the biggest party in the parliament, they can not blame SaS anymore," he said.

Gasparovic would most likely ask Radicova's outgoing administration to work as a "caretaker government until the date for a snap election is set," he said.

But he added: "The caretaker government will not have the mandate to make important decisions, which will complicate Slovakia's position at the upcoming EU summit."

"Ratification of the EFSF is just a beginning," Meseznikov said.

"The situation within the eurozone will require further action and Slovakia's decision-making will be very complicated without a real government."