Donald Tusk’s citizens’ coalition agrees to work together with two parties. Tusk should be prime minister again. However, President Duda will decide the next steps.
In Poland, the replacement of the right-wing conservative party PiS (Law and Justice) is getting closer. The pro-European opposition parties Citizens’ Coalition (KO), Third Way and Left have agreed on a coalition government, their party leaders announced at a joint press conference in Warsaw on Tuesday morning. The head of government should therefore be the head of the KO, Donald Tusk. The former president of the EU Council is about to return as prime minister.
According to the PAP news agency, Tusk stressed that the three parties are ready for “comprehensive cooperation” at the beginning of the legislature. “This is important information on the day President Andrzej Duda begins consultations with parliamentary parties (on forming a government).” In Poland, the president gives the order to form a government, but – unlike Austria – the government still has to vote after being elected to Parliament.
President meets with party leaders
Duda is a close political companion of PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski. On Tuesday, he first wanted to meet with representatives of PiS, which remained the strongest force in the October 15 parliamentary elections, but which had lost its previous absolute majority in parliament. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki does not have the necessary votes to be re-elected head of government. Also on Tuesday, Duda wants to welcome the head of KO, Tusk, whose party is the second strongest force in the new parliament. With her coalition partners, she has an overwhelming majority of 248 of the 460 seats in the Sejm. (APA/Portal/PAP)