Poland’s Mateusz Morawiecki signs the oath of office as he is sworn in as Prime Minister ahead of a confidence vote at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, Poland, on November 27, 2023. Photo by Slawomir Kaminski/Agencja Wyborcza.pl via Portal
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s president sworn in a government Monday that is expected to last no more than 14 days, a tactical maneuver that will allow the conservative Law and Justice party to stay in power a little longer — and make more appointments to government agencies.
After a national election in October, President Andrzej Duda sworn in Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who has held the post since late 2017. According to the constitution, Morawiecki and his cabinet have 14 days to submit to a vote of confidence in parliament.
They will almost certainly lose the vote as Morawiecki has no coalition partners after his nationalist and conservative Law and Justice party lost its parliamentary majority and no other party wants to take part in government.
Morawiecki says he is trying to find partners with whom he can govern, but he estimates his chances at “10 percent or even less.”
Other members of Morawiecki’s new cabinet also took their oath. Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak remained in office, but most other ministries, including foreign affairs, justice and education, were replaced. Some political veterans probably did not want to be part of a government that was expected to fail.
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Many women and young members are represented in the new government, which Duda praised. He turned to them and told them that he already knew most of them, not as ministers, but “as experts, as people who have been working on the second line.”
Critics of Morawiecki and Duda – who is politically on the side of law and justice – condemn the decision to form a government that clearly has no chance of winning parliamentary support as a hopeless act of political theater.
Some critics point out that the outgoing party is using the time to make more appointments, which will increase its influence over state bodies even after it leaves government. She has in recent days nominated loyalists to lead the state audit agency and the financial regulator.
After eight years in power, the Law and Justice party won the most votes in the election, but lost its parliamentary majority and won only 194 seats in the 460-seat lower house of parliament, the Sejm.
Power is already passing to a bloc of pro-EU parties that ran in three separate rounds but promised cooperation. Together they won a parliamentary majority of 248 seats and are already leading the work of parliament.
Their candidate for prime minister is Donald Tusk, who held the post from 2007 to 2014 before becoming a top EU politician and President of the European Council for five years.
He is on track to become prime minister again after Morawiecki’s term expires in December.
Left: Poland’s Mateusz Morawiecki signs the oath of office as he is sworn in as Prime Minister ahead of a vote of confidence at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, Poland, November 27, 2023. Photo by Slawomir Kaminski/Agencja Wyborcza.pl via Portal