Polish PM Morawiecki says he is ‘not packed’, hopes to form coalition -media

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki speaks with Romania’s President Klaus Werner Iohannis during the European Union leaders summit, in Brussels, Belgium October 26, 2023. REUTERS/Yves Herman/ File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights

WARSAW, Nov 4 (Reuters) – Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki aims to convince opposition party members who are like-minded on key issues to form a coalition government following the October elections, he told news website Interia.pl in an interview published on Saturday.

« I’m not packed, » he was quoted as saying. « I want to appeal to those MPs from the Third Way, Confederation and other clubs who care about the social and sovereignty programs and the issue of fighting illegal migration. »

Morawiecki’s Law and Justice (PiS) party came first in the October parliamentary elections with 194 seats but fell far short of a majority in the 460-seat lower house (Sejm).

Three pro-European opposition parties – Civic Coalition (KO), Third Way and the Left – which jointly won 248 mandates, say they are ready to form a cabinet led by opposition leader Donald Tusk and have urged President Andrzej Duda not to delay his appointment.

« The opposition is trying to find an agreement – I see it, I take note of it and I know how to count. But perhaps if we present the risks and opportunities, we will gain the support of new MPs, » Morawiecki told Interia.

« Poles decided that we had achieved the highest result. At the same time, they said: this time you have to look for a coalition partner. We are obliged to make such an attempt. »

When asked if he could see himself in a government run by Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, the head of the agrarian Polish People’s Party (PSL), Morawiecki said he could.

Kosiniak-Kamysz has previously denied the possibility of forming a coalition with PiS.

PSL together with the centrist Poland 2050 won 65 seats under their joint Third Way banner.

The last party to clear the parliamentary threshold, the far-right Confederation party, which secured 18 seats, has said it would join neither a PiS- nor a KO-led government.

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