Polish opposition parties have rejected offers from Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to help form a coalition government after last month’s election, lawmakers said on Wednesday, further diminishing his chances of remaining in power.
Although Morawiecki’s nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party emerged as the winner in the Oct. 15 election, they failed to secure a majority. President Andrzej Duda, a PiS ally, granted Morawiecki the opportunity to build a new government.
Morawiecki encouraged other parties to join forces with PiS in creating a broad “Coalition for Polish Affairs” and promised to implement their policy suggestions. However, opposition lawmakers revealed that they had received letters inviting them to participate in coalition discussions but Morawiecki’s appeal did not gain any traction.
Marek Sawicki, a lawmaker from the centre-right Polish Peasants’ Party (PSL), expressed surprise, stating, “I have publicly told the prime minister many times that this farce is unnecessary, that it is unnecessarily prolonging the agony of this government,” as reported by state-run news agency PAP.
PSL ran in the election as part of a coalition called Third Way, which has agreed to form a pro-European coalition government with the New Left and the liberal Civic Coalition (KO).
Together, these three parties can form a majority in the lower house Sejm, as demonstrated by the chamber’s election of Third Way’s Szymon Holownia as its new speaker.
Krzysztof Gawkowski of the New Left shared a photo of the invitation from Morawiecki on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) and wrote, “I would like to inform you that we are not going anywhere.”
The only remaining party in parliament is the far-right Confederation party, which had been previously considered as a potential coalition partner for PiS. However, even their support would not have given PiS a majority due to a lower-than-expected result.
Confederation co-leader Slawomir Mentzen stated that he also declined an invitation from Morawiecki to assist in forming a government. He wrote on X, “I said throughout the election campaign that I wanted to end, not extend, PiS rule. I haven’t changed my mind.”
If Morawiecki is unable to secure a vote of confidence, parliament will then appoint another government. The Third Way coalition, poised to assume power, has nominated KO leader Donald Tusk as its prime ministerial candidate.
(Reporting by Alan Charlish; Editing by Gareth Jones)
