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Poland's president invites party leaders to discuss formation of new gov't

19.10.2023 11:30
Poland's president will meet with political party leaders next week to discuss the formation of a new government after parliamentary elections, his office announced on Thursday.
The Polish Presidential Palace in Warsaw.
The Polish Presidential Palace in Warsaw.Photo: PAP/Radek Pietruszka

"Next Tuesday and Wednesday (October 24 and 25), at the invitation of President Andrzej Duda, consultations ... will be held at the presidential palace ... with representatives from individual electoral committees," the president's office said on the X social media platform.

It added that "the meetings will be held separately with each of the election committees, in the order in accordance with the results achieved by these committees in the elections."

Poland's ruling conservatives won the country's October 15 election, but lost a parliamentary majority, making it more likely for the opposition to take power.

The governing Law and Justice (PiS) party, allied with two smaller groupings in a United Right coalition, claimed 35.4 percent of the vote and 194 seats in elections to the lower house of parliament.

Meanwhile, the largest opposition bloc, the Civic Coalition, led by the Civic Platform (PO) party, won 30.7 percent of the vote and 157 seats, according to the final data released by the National Electoral Commission.

The centre-right opposition Third Way alliance finished third at the ballot box with 14.4 percent of the vote and 65 seats, and the New Left, another opposition party, finished fourth with 8.6 percent and 26 seats.

The far-right Confederation group, with 7.2 percent of the vote, also crossed the 5-percent voter support threshold that Polish parties need to clear to enter parliament. It secured 18 lower-house seats.

The Civic Coalition, led by former Prime Minister and European Council President Donald Tusk, the Third Way and the New Left have pledged to form a coalition government. Together they hold 248 seats in the 460-seat lower house.

Polish voters went to the ballot box on Sunday to choose 460 MPs and 100 senators for a four-year term.

The opposition won 66 senatorial seats, while the ruling conservatives secured 34 seats in the upper house of Poland's bicameral parliament.

The upper house, the Senate, is less powerful than the lower chamber, but it can delay or amend legislation. The Sejm, the lower house, needs to muster an absolute majority to override Senate amendments.

(gs)

Source: IAR, PAP, Reuters