Donald Tusk, leader of a coalition that is ready to govern, must wait while populist PiS tries to stay in power
Poland’s president Andrzej Duda: he will be in office until 2025 and has veto power over any legal initiatives. Photograph: Mindaugas Kulbis/APDonald Tusk, who declared victory in last month’s Polish parliamentary election, will have to wait several weeks before having a chance to form a government after the president Andrzej Duda said he would offer the first chance to do so to the ruling Law and Justice party.
On Monday evening, in a televised address, Mr Duda said he had held consultations with PiS and Mr Tusk’s Civic Coalition and both had claimed to be confident of forming a government.
Assuming that Mr Morawiecki fails to find a majority after two weeks the Sejm will be able to nominate its own candidate. This is likely to be Mr Tusk, who would then lead a broad grouping of opposition forces, including Civic Coalition, the centre-right Third Way and the leftist Lewica. The election followed a vicious and bitter campaign as PiS sought to win a third term in office. PiS mixed increased social spending with right-wing populist rhetoric, attacking migrants and LGBT people and tightening Poland’s already restrictive abortion laws.