FILE PHOTO: Polish President Andrzej Duda speaks as he attends the military parade on Armed Forces Day, celebrated annually on August 15 to commemorate Poland's victory over the Soviet Union's Red Army in 1920, in Warsaw, Poland, August 15, 2023. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/File Photo
WARSAW (Reuters) -Poland's president will tell the nation on Monday evening whom he will appoint as prime minister, an aide said, drawing a line under weeks of uncertainty after the ruling nationalists lost their parliamentary majority in an Oct. 15 election.
President Andrzej Duda, an ally of PiS, said before the election he would give the first shot at forming a government to the largest single party.
The ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party came first with 194 seats in the 460-seat lower chamber but it is unlikely to find a coalition partner. Instead, an alliance of pro-European Union opposition parties has been tipped to form the next government after winning a combined 248 seats.
"After consultations and deep consideration, President Andrzej Duda has made a decision regarding the so-called first step (of appointing a government). The decision is final ...," Marcin Mastalerek, head of Duda's chancellery, wrote on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, adding that Duda would make a televised national address later on Monday.
The three pro-EU groupings say they are ready to form a cabinet led by Civic Coalition (KO) leader Donald Tusk, a former Polish prime minister and a former head of the European Council, and they have urged Duda not to delay his appointment.
"We are waiting calmly," KO lawmaker Marcin Kierwinski told private broadcaster Radio Zet. "I hope this decision will be based on the mathematical principle that 248 is more than 194."
Following his consultations with the parties that won seats in parliament, Duda said there were two serious candidates for heading the next government - the outgoing prime minister, PiS's Mateusz Morawiecki, and Tusk.
Despite all the other parties in parliament ruling out a coalition with PiS, Morawiecki has said he still intends to try and form a government.
"The chance that we will create a parliamentary majority is very low, but that does not mean it is zero," Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski told private broadcaster RMF FM.
If Morawiecki were tasked by Duda with forming a government but proved unable to win a vote of confidence in parliament, the chamber would then appoint another prime minister.
(Reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk, Alan Charlish, Pawel Florkiewicz, editing by Gareth Jones)
