Only one of 17 member nations of the euro zone refused to ratify the expansion of the bailout package for Greece, put at risk attempts to contain the sovereign debt crisis.

Slovakia, the lone dissenter, is a small country with a population of only 5.5 million.

This decision led to the collapse of the coalition government and an ensuing political realignment.

Earlier, the Slovak government announced that it would be the last euro zone member to vote on proposed measures to extend the powers of the European Financial Stability Facility.

The coalition said it will not block passage of the legislation unless another state rejects the proposed changes.

An agreement between the opposition and fallen coalition was reached to enable the vote to pass in Parliament in exchange for calling an early election, as reported by the New York Times.

Meanwhile, Business Week reported that Asian stocks rose for a sixth day as European leaders moved closer to a plan for taming the debt crisis and the U.S. Federal Reserve said it discussed more asset purchases, reducing concerns about the global economy.

Top officials of the EU have already urged Slovak politicians to desist from quarreling and instead focus on the revival of the European economy.

José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, and Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, issued a combined declaration calling on the Slovak parliament put aside internal political strife and guarantee a speedy implementation of the new concord.

Slovakia depends mainly on foreign demand for its products, including cars made by Volkswagen AG's local unit, to drive economic growth after a recession in 2009, according to Bloomberg.

Domestic demand has remained unresponsive as the export-driven expansion was not enough to bring employment back to the pre-crisis level and a raise in indirect taxes wore down the spending power of citizens.

Despite these conditions, the economy of Slovakia was reported to have grown by more than 3 percent during the first quarter of 2011.

Slovakia's new vote to approve changes to the European Financial Stability Facility is expected before the weekend.