2023-12-01 14:33 update: 2023-12-04, 14:51
Donald Tusk. Photo PAP/Albert Zawada
Donald Tusk, leader of Civic Coalition (KO), has said that a coalition government of three opposition groupings to be led by him will be formed on December 11 or December 12 at the latest.
His comments come as speculation whirls in Poland over just when a government based on the current coalition might take office, and over just how long the current one will last.
On November 27, Andrzej Duda, the Polish president, swore in the new government of Law and Justice (PiS) with Mateusz Morawiecki as prime minister despite the fact that PiS failed to secure a parliamentary majority in the October 15 elections.
The PiS government has a very slim chance of survival owing to the fact that it has to face a vote of confidence in the opposition dominated Sejm, the lower house of parliament, within 14 days of its swearing in.
On Friday, following a meeting with Szymon Holownia, the speaker of the Sejm, Tusk told a press conference it was highly unlikely that Morawiecki would win the confidence vote.
"As you know, on December 11, we will listen to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki's proposals for his government. I am smiling, but you all know the circumstances of the Morawiecki government's work today, and if time allows, on December 11 we will also choose a new prime minister, if Mateusz Morawiecki, as predicted, will not receive a vote of confidence," Tusk said.
He added he would like the process to be completed by the end of the day, and that the decisions will be made by Holownia.
"But if the deliberations are prolonged," Tusk also said, "we will end this process on December 12."
"Also, expect the forming of a new government on December 11, and if time does not allow it, an expose of the new prime minister on December 12, and the swearing-in will take place on December 13," he said. (PAP)
mr/md/mf
