POLAND: Poland faces early elections as Prime Minister sacks four more ministers

Poland's Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski sacked ministers from two junior coalition parties on Monday (August 13) and decided to rule in a minority government ahead of expected early elections in the former communist EU member. Holding parliamentary elections two years early has become increasingly likely since bitter fighting erupted within the fractious coalition between the ruling Kaczynski twins and volatile leftist and far-right allies. The prime minister sacked ministers from the nationalist League of Polish Families and rural-based Self-Defence party. Roman Giertych, the deputy prime minister and leader of the League is among the dismissed ministers. The three other ministers were charged with construction, labour and fisheries. New ministers were appointed immediately. The Kaczynskis have governed during a spell of fast economic growth, but have failed to quell constant political infighting and squabbled repeatedly with other European Union leaders. Their Law and Justice party gave its approval on Saturday (August11) for holding early parliamentary elections and the prime minister suggested that they could be held in October or November at the latest. But an early election is a big gamble for the Kaczynskis, whose party is trailing in opinion polls behind the pro-business opposition Civic Platform, which favours quicker progress towards adopting the euro currency. Kaczynski made clear that his party is preparing to stay in power after elections and said the newly appointed ministers would contribute to success at the next elections. Poland tumbled into crisis one month ago when the prime minister fired deputy prime minister Andrzej Lepper, firebrand leader of Self-Defence. Political commentator and contributor to the "Polityka" weekly Jacek Zakowski, said the current situation reminds him of a "big mess": "There are many scenarios, some prepared by the government, some by the opposition, but none can be realized. And everybody get lost in this entirely sophisticated game they played. But now the only way to survive for politicians is to look for a chance in a new elections because they have no idea what to do in this situation," Zakowski told Reuters. Parliament reconvenes on August 22 after its summer break and could then vote to dissolve itself ahead of new elections, although the prime minister will still have the chance to pull back before then. The Civic Platform opposition is keen to hold elections quickly. It recently widened its opinion poll lead to as much as 14 percentage points over the Kaczynskis' Law and Justice. "Today we should undertake very swift steps towards early elections. The Civic Platform and myself are ready to meet the president at any moment in order to arrange necessary conditions to prepare Poland for early elections," said Civic Platform leader Donald Tusk in parliament on Wednesday (August 8). Self-Defence and the League of Polish Families could both struggle to pass the threshold to enter parliament if they go to elections individually, and plan an alliance known as LiS, which means "fox". Prime Minister Kaczynski faces an even weaker government since the conduct of his trusted aide Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro has been questioned. Ziobro is under fire by recently dismissed Internal Affairs Minister Janusz Kaczmarek over the suicide of former Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) MP Barbara Blida, who shot herself after officers of the Internal Security Agency (ABW) entered her apartment with an arrest warrant. Kaczmarek claims that Ziobro forced the arrest without sufficient evidence.

ITN Source | August 13, 2007

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