WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s president said Thursday that he is calling the first session of the country's newly elected parliament for Nov. 13.
President Andrzej Duda's announcement launches that will lead to the formation of a new government after Poland's on Oct. 15. He must also announce a candidate for prime minister but said that decision would come later.
Duda said there were two serious candidates for the post, the , Mateusz Morawiecki, and , a former prime minister who is the head of an opposition bloc that collectively won a majority of seats in the new parliament - 248 seats in the 460-seat lower house, or Sejm.
Morawiecki belongs to the ruling conservative Law and Justice party. It won more votes than any other single party in the election but in parliament. The party secured 194 seats and has no potential coalition government partner. Still, Law and Justice has said it considers itself the winner and is asking to be given the first chance to try to form a government.
“Today, we have two serious candidates for the post of prime minister,” Duda said earlier this week with the party leaders.
“This is a new situation, one might say, in our democratic standards,” he said, adding he must still give the matter his consideration.
Duda noted that the constitutional term of the outgoing parliament runs til Nov. 12 and that he sees no reason to shorten it.
The decision means there will not be a new government in place for some time, and possibly not until December if the president first taps Morawiecki. In such a case, Morawiecki would have 14 days to present a Cabinet to parliament for confirmation.
If his proposed government fails to win parliament's backing, which appears to be an inevitable outcome, it would then fall to parliament to present its candidate. In that case the parliamentary majority would choose Tusk.
Tusk said he hoped Duda would not drag out the process unnecessarily.
“Time is priceless for Poland at the moment,” Tusk told reporters in Brussels, where he was to try to repair ties with the 27-member bloc and to get a head start on unlocking billions of euros in funding that were frozen due to rule of law violations under the government of the past eight years.
“Firstly, the money may be lost. Secondly, we have to spend this gigantic money within two years, so any delay is absolutely unacceptable here,” Tusk said.
