Poland is transforming. The liberal opposition parties signed a coalition agreement on Friday which should serve as a “road map” for the alliance if it comes to power. “We really want the Poles who went to vote with so much hope to see that, from now on, we are ready to take responsibility for our country and for the years to come,” said Donald Tusk, head of line of the pro-European opposition, winner of the legislative elections.
Tusk, the leader of the liberal opposition Civic Coalition bloc, spoke alongside his counterparts from the centrist Third Voice coalition and the left. “When I look at you, you remind me of the Avengers with their superpowers,” quipped left-wing co-leader Robert Biedron.
The outlines of the alliance blurred
While the ruling conservative camp won the largest number of seats in October’s legislative elections, it is unable to form a majority. The Civic Coalition came second, but the opposition alliance won a majority of 248 seats out of the 460 in the lower house of Parliament. Alliance leaders jointly called on President Andrzej Duda to appoint Donald Tusk as Prime Minister. The head of state, however, chose to entrust the mission of forming a government to his allies in the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party.
On Monday, Andrzej Duda entrusted this task to current Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. The contours of an alliance around PiS seem unclear because the party, which won 194 seats, does not have reliable coalition partners, according to observers. Tusk, a former prime minister and head of the Council of Europe, accused Duda of “playing for time” by choosing Morawiecki. He also confided on Monday that this presidential decision “is not going to change anything”, implying that he would end up becoming the head of government.