Polish president gives nationalists first shot at government

WARSAW, Nov 6 (Reuters) – Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki will get the first chance to form a government after his nationalist Law and Justice party won elections last month, a task that seems impossible given the lack of it, Polish President Mateusz Morawiecki said on Monday. majority.

A coalition of pro-EU opposition parties won a majority in the elections held on October 15, but President Andrzej Duda said before the election that he would give the party with the largest number of seats the first chance to form a government.

The Law and Justice Party, which has been in power since 2015, advanced in the elections but lost its majority. With all other parties ruling out a coalition with him, it seems unlikely that the party will be able to govern.

“After analysis and calm consultations, I have decided to entrust the task of forming the government to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki,” Duda, an ally of the PiS, said in a televised speech.

PiS spokesman Rafal Počeník welcomed Duda’s decision, which he called “a confirmation of our country’s long-standing constitutional tradition” in a post on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

A vote of confidence

If Morawiecki is unable to obtain a vote of confidence in parliament, the council will then appoint another prime minister.

This is likely to be former European Council President Donald Tusk, chosen by the main opposition parties for the post of Prime Minister.

Tusk, the former president of the European Council, had urged Duda not to delay his appointment as prime minister, saying that postponement could harm his chances of releasing funds allocated to Poland that Brussels had frozen due to a dispute over judicial reforms.

Addressing a crowd shortly before Duda spoke, Tusk said he would eventually become prime minister, whatever Duda decided.

“This game… exposes Polish interests to tangible losses unnecessarily, but I will tell you again that it will not change anything,” he said.

The appointment of the pro-European Tusk would mark a major shift for Poland after eight years of disagreement with Brussels over issues ranging from immigration to gay rights.

In addition to promising to release EU funds, Tusk also said he wanted those accused by his coalition of wrongdoing during PiS’s eight years in power, including Duda himself, to be tried in a state court.

The Liberal Civic Coalition accuses the PiS of subverting democratic norms by increasing political control over the courts and turning state television into a propaganda outlet. The government denies these accusations.

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