Polish President Andrzej Duda will entrust current Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki with forming a government on Monday evening, State Secretary of the Office of the President of Poland Malgorzata Paprocka told reporters.
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“The Constitution provides that first of all, the Cabinet of Ministers will resign, which of course will be accepted by the President. The President will instruct the Cabinet of Ministers to continue to perform its functions until a new government is formed, and then the President will entrust the mission of forming the government to the Prime Minister. Minister Morawiecki. All three steps will take place tonight,” Paprocka said.
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On Monday, a new Sejm began work in Poland. This composition of the Sejm differs from the previous one in that the Law and Justice (PiS) party of Jaroslaw Kaczynski no longer has a majority in it. According to the results of the parliamentary elections on October 15, the ruling Law and Justice party in Poland received 194 seats in the Sejm, and the opposition Civic Coalition – 157, Third Way – 65, Left – 26.
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Another 18 seats were won by the coalition of nationalists and Eurosceptics “Confederation”.
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Nevertheless, Kaczynski’s party declared itself the winner, having received more votes than other political forces. On this basis, PiS declared its right to form a government and nominated the current chairman of the cabinet, Mateusz Morawiecki, as a candidate for prime minister.
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In turn, the disparate opposition, before the start of parliament, concluded a coalition agreement and, formally having more than half of the parliamentary mandates, declared its right to form a cabinet of ministers, nominating the former head of the European Council, Donald Tusk, as prime minister.
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The main intrigue is that, having elected its governing bodies, the Sejm will begin work on electing the prime minister. In accordance with the Polish constitution, the appointment of the head of the cabinet is impossible without obtaining a vote of confidence from the Sejm.
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Polish President Andrzej Duda announced in advance that he would submit to the Sejm the candidacy of current Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki for the post of prime minister. After this, Morawiecki will begin forming a new government, which will take about two weeks. The president must formally appoint Morawiecki as head of government and turn to the Sejm with a request for a vote of confidence in the new cabinet.
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If during the voting the majority of deputies do not express a vote of confidence in Morawiecki’s government, then, in accordance with the constitution, parliamentarians will try to independently nominate a candidate for the post of prime minister. In this case, it is already known that it will be Donald Tusk, who will also form a government, present it to the Sejm and ask for a vote of confidence.
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If this time the vote of confidence is not expressed, the initiative again passes to the president, who must propose his candidacy for prime minister. If the deputies reject it without expressing a vote of confidence, then the president, in accordance with the constitution, shortens the term of office (dissolves) the parliament and calls new elections.
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Also on Monday, the first session of the Senate of the new convocation will begin. In the previous convocation of the upper house, the opposition had the majority of seats, and in the current convocation it only strengthened its advantage – Law and Justice received 24 out of 100 seats in the Senate as a result of the last elections.
