Tusk becomes PM, vows to chase away PiS ‘evil’

Polish parliament elected Donald Tusk as prime minister on Monday after Mateusz Morawiecki, the candidate of the previously ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, failed to obtain a vote of confidence on Monday with the new prime minister vowing to bring light to Polish politics after eight years of ‘evil’ PiS rule.

As expected, Morawiecki, who delivered his programme speech at noon on Monday, failed to win a vote of confidence in parliament.

Following that, the Sejm, parliament’s lower house, elected Tusk as prime minister, giving him the task of creating a government that would consist of three blocs: Tusk’s Civic Coalition (KO, EPP/S&D), centrist Third Road (Renew/EPP) and the Left (S&D/Left).

Tusk received backing from 248 MPs, while 201 opposed his candidacy, and no one abstained.

“This is a truly wonderful day, not only for me but for all those who have deeply believed for many years that things will get even better, that we will chase away the darkness and evil. It happened thanks to you. You did it,” Tusk said after the voting, referring to the eight-year PiS rule in Poland that was terminated with the October elections.

During its two terms in power, PiS regularly clashed with Brussels over the rule of law, which the EU Commission said had been seriously undermined in Poland by the party’s reforms.

Although the PiS won the parliamentary elections, it failed to secure a parliamentary majority. Meanwhile, opposition parties formed a coalition to oust Jarosław Kaczyński’s party from power and outnumbered the PiS in parliament.

President Andrzej Duda appointed Morawiecki even though it was widely believed that he would not win the general election. But after failing to persuade other MPs to join the coalition, Morawiecki, who had promised in his election speech to make Poland more democratic and end the “Polish-Polish war” in the country’s politics, lacked the votes to keep his government in power.

In the next step, under the constitution, it was for parliament to indicate a new prime minister. The only candidate who was voted on was Tusk.

Now, it is up to Tusk to present his programme speech and the composition of his new government and ask for a confidence vote, which will be voted on Tuesday.

Team Tusk will take the oath before the president, as confirmed by the president’s office.

Tusk had already been prime minister for almost two terms, between 2007 and 2014, before assuming his job as European Council President.

(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl)