After the parliamentary election: Morawiecki should form a new government in Poland

A good three weeks after the victory of a three-party opposition alliance in the parliamentary elections in Poland, President Andrzej Duda made a controversial decision to further delay the transfer of power.

The head of state gave the previous Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki from the national conservative PiS the task of forming a government. Duda said in Warsaw that he followed the good parliamentary tradition, according to which a representative of the strongest faction is given the task of forming a government.

This move by the president, who himself comes from the PiS camp, could bring further weeks of political instability to Poland. Duda had previously set the date for the constituent session of the new parliament on November 13th – almost a month after the election.

Morawiecki has no coalition partner

In the parliamentary election on October 15, Donald Tusk’s liberal-conservative Citizens’ Coalition (KO) won a clear majority of seats together with two other opposition parties, the conservative Third Way and the left-wing alliance Lewica. The three parties are already working on a coalition agreement.

The previous ruling party PiS, on the other hand, became the strongest political force, but missed an absolute majority and does not have a coalition partner. This means that Morawiecki’s attempt to form a government is most likely doomed to failure.

In Poland it is a political custom, but not a requirement, for the head of state to award the task of forming a government to a representative of the party that has become the strongest political force. If his proposal for a cabinet does not receive a majority in parliament, it is the turn of the other factions.

After the election, opposition politicians in Warsaw repeatedly expressed fears that the president might delay the change in order to allow the PiS to remain in power for another month or two.