Following the electoral success of the opposition alliance, the new parliament is expected to meet for its constituent session on November 13th. That is the day after which the current legislature ends, Duda said on Thursday in Warsaw. Duda, himself from PiS, left open the explosive question of who he would give the task of forming a government to.
In the October 15 elections, Tusk’s liberal-conservative opposition Citizens’ Coalition (KO) won a clear majority of seats along with two other opposition parties, the conservative Third Way and the left-wing Lewica alliance.
Tusk, 66, was Poland’s head of government from 2007 to 2014. PiS, which has been in power since 2015, emerged from the elections as the strongest political force, but did not win an absolute majority and does not have a coalition partner adequate.
Graphics: APA/ORF; Source: Electoral Commission
“This is a new situation”
Duda met with representatives from all parties on Tuesday and Wednesday. Based on his presentation, there are “two serious candidates”, said Duda. There are “two political groups that claim to have a majority and their own candidate for the position of prime minister”: the previous prime minister Morawiecki of PiS and the opposition leader Tusk.
Duda emphasized that the Constitution gives him time to make his decision. “This is a new situation.” There has never been a situation where one party won and the others claimed to have a majority. After the elections, opposition politicians in Warsaw repeatedly expressed fears that the president might delay the change in order to allow PiS to remain in power for another month or two.
Portal/Agencja Wyborcza/Jakub Porzycki Andrzej Duda, who comes from PiS, is still considering who he will give the government contract to
In Poland, it is a political custom, but not a requirement, that the head of state assigns the task of forming a government to a representative of the party that has become the strongest political force. If his cabinet proposal does not obtain a majority in parliament, it will be the turn of the other factions.
Tusk: Duda is “buying time”
Tusk accused Duda on Thursday of “buying time”. Because at this time it is important that Poland has a new government quickly, he said, referring to the first payments of frozen EU funds worth billions that could be received by December.
“I am the opposition’s designated head of government and if I succeed in my government, I will take swift action so that the first payments can be made as early as December,” Tusk said in Brussels.
The EU was involved for years in a bitter dispute over the rule of law with the previous PiS government. As a result, €35 billion of the European coronavirus recovery fund for Poland alone was frozen. According to information from the European Parliament, more than 100 billion euros in regional funding are at stake.