The decision of the Polish president, Andrzej Duda, to entrust the formation of the Government to the ultra-conservatives of the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) due to their possibilities of forming the majority that the polls did not give him in the elections of last October 15, has unleashed a wave of criticism and not only in the opposition.
“Duda moves within the framework of the Constitution, but he is a terrible president, the worst Poland has had since 1989,” says writer Szczepan Twardoch, who described the president as “an exceptionally ridiculous figure even in Polish politics, that there is no shortage of clowns”.
Three weeks after the elections, Duda, closely linked to PiS, tasked the outgoing prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, with forming a government because his party had obtained the most support at the polls. The president followed tradition, but knowing that PiS only has 194 of the 460 seats that the Sejm has and that it has no members.
In the ranks of PiS, Duda’s appointment has fallen like May rain. “The mission that the president has entrusted to me is a great honor, but also a challenge. I therefore invite all parliamentarians who put Poland first to work with me,” declared Morawiecki.
The case of the tripartite that will form the Civic Coalition with 157 seats, the Third Way with 65 and the New Left, with 26 is different. Together they surpass the absolute majority and are already finalizing a cabinet chaired by Donald Tusk, former prime minister and former president of the European Council. . Coalition talks are ongoing.
With clear arithmetic, the opposition only sees interests in Duda’s election. “I have the impression that the president is thinking about taking over Jarosaw Kaczyski’s succession in PiS and that is why he cannot hand over the nomination to Tusk. If he had done so, he would lose the support of his allies,” says Leszek Miller, former Prime Minister.
Tusk patiently waits his turn. For him, Duda’s decision will not change the course set at the polls, but it does “lengthen the entire process of forming a new government and this consumes invaluable time, which Poland does not have,” he declared.
Along the same lines, the general secretary of the Civic Platform, Marcin Kierwiski, stated that Duda’s decision “prolongs the agony of the PiS and offers the Poles an unpleasant spectacle that will actually cover up the latest money grab by the PiS before to leave the Government”.
For MP Katarzyna Lubnauer, “President Duda has not gone beyond his role as a PiS man. He has chosen the party and not Poland. He deliberately ignored that Tusk’s candidacy for prime minister has the support of the Left and the Third Way. I think he did it on purpose.”
The mayor of Warsaw, Rafal Trzaskowski, for his part, described this Tuesday on his social networks as “extremely irresponsible” and a “game to buy time in favor of the PiS” the Duda movement, which he has also called for the next 13 November the constituent parliamentary session, a month after the elections. The session will be chaired, also at the suggestion of Duda, by the politician of the Peasants’ Party (PSL), Marek Sawicki. In the eyes of United Left MP Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus, Sawicki’s appointment is in itself a political maneuver in favor of PiS. “He has chosen a man from the opposition coalition to facilitate contacts with a Government that will undoubtedly try to convince the PSL to join them to prevent the opposition from coming to power,” she maintains.
Be that as it may, there is a date for Morawiecki to face the truth. His chances of success are practically zero, which is why Duda explained when announcing his decision that, in case of defeat, the choice of the candidate for prime minister will fall to the Diet (the Senate). It must be by absolute majority and will have until December 25. If that second attempt fails, the prerogative returns to the president. In the latter case, the stage would open for holding new elections.