Daily Times

Poland’s president on Monday tasked the current prime minister with a first attempt at forming the new government after the ruling conservatives won an election last month, but fell short of a parliamentary majority. The Law and Justice (PiS) party emerged first after the October 15 general election, but without a clear majority and with little chance to forge a coalition. “I’ve decided to entrust the mission of forming the government to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki,” said President Andrzej Duda, who is allied with the conservatives in power. “If the mission of the Law and Justice party’s representative does not succeed, then in the next phase the parliament will choose a candidate for prime minister and I will appoint him without delay,” he added, in a televised speech. Morawiecki thanked the president for trusting him in a post on Facebook. Opposition leader Donald Tusk’s liberal Civic Coalition bloc finished second but together with two minor parties — the centrist Third Way and the Left — secured a majority of 248 lawmakers in the 460-seat parliament.