2023-11-14 12:57 update: 2023-11-16, 14:32
Elzbieta Witek. Photo PAP/Rafał Guz
The outgoing ruling party, the socially-conservative Law and Justice (PiS), must select a different candidate for a deputy speaker of the lower house of parliament as Elzbieta Witek is unacceptable due to her track record, a New Left leader has said.
Witek was the speaker of the Sejm, the lower house of parliament, during the previous term, but on Monday, at the first sitting of the new parliament, she lost the vote for the speaker to the opposition's Szymon Holownia and then was rejected as a deputy speaker representing PiS, leaving the party with no deputy speaker.
"We blocked Elzbieta Witek for her past actions, for example for manipulating the Sejm among other things," Wlodzimierz Czarzasty, deputy speaker and New Left MP, told the private broadcaster Radio Zet on Tuesday.
"There is room in the presidium for PiS, which is the party with the most seats. But they must choose someone else," said Czarzasty.
For the New Left it wasn’t the case of standing up against PiS politically, said the MP, but standing up against the candidature of Witek, who in their view has performed badly while in office.
"We have been very consistent in our criticism of what Speaker Witek had been doing. Not only that, but six months ago we referred her actions to the prosecutor's office," Czarzasty said.
Despite winning most seats in the October 15 general election, PiS lost a ruling majority in both houses of parliament and has slim chance of forming a coalition government as no other party seems to be interested in cooperation with them. (PAP)
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