‘After calm analysis and consultations, I have decided to entrust the mission of forming a government to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. Thus, I have decided to continue the good parliamentary tradition, whereby the winning party is the first to be given the chance to form a government’, said President Andrzej Duda during his evening address on Monday, 6 November 2023.

During the address, President Duda recalled that on 15 October, Poles elected their representatives to the Sejm and the Senate, and the elections were marked by a record turnout.

‘More than 74 % of eligible voters took part in the vote. This is an excellent result’, he stressed.

‘The record voter turnout confirmed that democracy in Poland today is stronger than ever. This is a great obligation for all parliamentarians, regardless of the political option they represent. I appealed before the elections for a high level of participation in the vote, and I am proud that together we have shown how much we care about the fate of our homeland and that we want, as citizens, to decide the most important matters for Poland. I would like to thank everyone once again warmly for this’, said Andrzej Duda.

The President appointed MP Marek Sawicki of the Polish People’s Party (PSL), who was elected from the Third Way list, as Senior Speaker to lead the first sitting of the Sejm.

Andrzej Duda noted in the address that “if the mission of the Law and Justice representative fails, then in the next step the Sejm will choose the candidate for prime minister, and I will immediately appoint him or her to this position. ‘All constitutional rules and deadlines will be met’, he added.

It is worth recalling that 231 votes are needed in the Sejm to form a government. Law and Justice has 194 of them. Meanwhile, the three parties of the previous opposition: Civic Coalition, Third Way and Left have a total of 248, and they have announced that they will form the new government in the next step.

Adrian Andrzejewski