AFPPrior to the vote, Morawiecki gave a speech in the Polish parliament
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 16:54
PiS leader Mateusz Morawiecki has lost a vote of confidence to remain Prime Minister of Poland. This clears the way two months after the elections for Donald Tusk, the leader of the liberal pro-European party KO.
266 of the 456 parliamentarians voted against the interim government led by Morawiecki. 190 people voted in favor.
The right-wing conservative PiS party has been in power in Poland for the past eight years. In the October elections, the party remained the largest, but without an absolute majority. An alliance of pro-European opposition parties achieved that majority under the leadership of Tusk.
Unstarted business
It is customary in Poland for the leader of the largest party to be given the task of forming a coalition, although the outcome of the elections made that seem impossible. Yet President Duda, a PiS ally, appointed Morawiecki as prime minister-designate and sworn in an interim government with Morawiecki as leader. Such an interim government must obtain a majority in a vote of confidence in Poland within two weeks to officially take office.
Today, Morawiecki had to present his government to the Sejm, the Polish parliament, after which the vote of confidence was held. The outcome came as no surprise, due to the majority of Tusk’s alliance.
Poland’s Prime Minister dismissed after vote in parliament
Later today, the Sejm will nominate its own candidate. That is expected to be Donald Tusk. His name was chanted by parliament during the vote. Last month, his alliance concluded a coalition agreement and also selected the ministers for the cabinet. The program is pro-European and opposition leader Tusk said at the presentation that the parties will “restore the legal order that has been disrupted by the actions of their predecessors”, referring to the PiS party.
If everything goes according to plan, Tusk will be Prime Minister before midnight. Tusk was also Prime Minister of Poland between 2007 and 2015.
Reporter Christiaan Paauwe from Poland:
A political spectacle today in the Polish parliament. It is the first time in Poland’s history that a prime minister who was doomed to failure was appointed, formed a government and was voted out at the first opportunity.
PiS pretended nothing was wrong until the last moment, but after eight years of obstructionism in Europe it really had to leave the field. Now it’s up to Donald Tusk and his united opposition to get to work. The government has already been formed and the plans are ready. They promise to do everything differently in Poland.
PiS has been in power in Poland since 2015. Since then, the judiciary has been limited and made dependent on the government and the party has also exerted great pressure on the media. The PiS government was regularly on a collision course with the EU. The party is still very popular among part of the Polish population, especially outside the big cities, because of its conservative stance.
Popcorn and politics
Before the vote, Morawiecki gave his last speech to the Polish parliament. About 265,000 people watched on the Sejm’s YouTube channel, where the speech and vote were broadcast live. The vote could also be followed in a cinema in Warsaw.
Hundreds of Poles gathered today in a Warsaw cinema to watch the vote:
Popcorn and politics: Poles watch voting in cinema hall
2023-12-11 15:54:37
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