"After consultations and deep consideration, President Andrzej Duda made a decision...," Marcin Mastalerek, Duda's chief of staff, wrote on the X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter.
He added that Duda's decision "regarding the so-called first step" for appointing a new government after last month's elections "is final."
Duda will announce his decision during a televised address in the evening, according to Mastalerek.
Poland’s three main opposition groups, the liberal Civic Coalition (KO), the centre-right Third Way alliance and the New Left, said at the weekend they would soon reach a coalition agreement to form a new government led by Donald Tusk, a former prime minister and European Council president.
Meanwhile, the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has named outgoing Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki as its choice to stay on as head of the new government.
At the end of last month, Duda held talks on the formation of a government with the political groups that had won parliamentary seats.
The president has since announced that he will convene the first session of the country's newly elected parliament on November 13.
Polish President Andrzej Duda. Photo: PAP/Paweł Supernak
The ruling conservatives won Poland's October 15 election, but lost their parliamentary majority, increasing the likelihood of an opposition government.
The Law and Justice 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 Tusk's Civic Platform party, won 30.7 percent of the vote and 157 seats.
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 opposition New Left 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, the Third Way and the New Left together hold 248 seats in the 460-seat lower house.
In addition to seizing control of the lower house, the opposition won 66 senatorial seats, while the ruling conservatives secured 34 seats in the upper house of Poland's bicameral parliament.
Under the Polish constitution, the new parliament must convene for the first time within 30 days of the election.
The president then has 14 days to nominate a candidate for prime minister. Once named, the nominee has 14 days to secure a vote of confidence from lawmakers. If this attempt is unsuccessful, parliament then selects its own nominee for prime minister.
(gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, Reuters