Niezalezna: The Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland said that the government will be elected on the dates specified in the constitution. As the spokeswoman emphasized, President Andrzej Duda will not rush and will not give in to pressure.
In the interview with "Rzeczpospolita," the presidential minister, Małgorzata Paprocka, was asked who President Andrzej Duda intends to appoint as the new prime minister: whether it will be the candidate of the party that won the elections, Law and Justice, or the coalition of opposition parties that won the majority.
"These issues are regulated by the constitution. The president has not decided yet. He wants the power between the old and new Council of Ministers to pass in a collision-free manner, respecting all constitutional norms.
From a legal point of view, the situation is as follows: in the first step, it is the president who makes a decision to whom he entrusts the mission of forming a new government. Only in the second step is the role of the parliament. So far, all presidents have respected this unwritten constitutional tradition, and this mission was entrusted to the representative of the party that won the elections."
When asked why the president has not decided yet, Paprocka replied that it is a good practice to conduct political consultations. "This debate is still ahead of us. The President will certainly perform all his duties within the constitutional deadlines," she assured.
When asked whether the president intended to use the 30 days provided for in the constitution to convene the first session of the Sejm, the minister said that there was "some extraordinary pressure."
"The deadline of 30 days for convening the first session of the Sejm after the elections is to ensure that the term of office of the Sejm is not shortened at each subsequent election. The constitution clearly stipulates a four-year term of office. If each president scheduled elections at the first possible date and then convened the first meeting as soon as possible, we would have shorter and shorter terms of office. We need to look at the constitutional system in a coherent way, and there cannot be any pressure," - she said.
Referring to the appeal of PO leader Donald Tusk for the president's energetic actions in this matter, Paprocka stated that " the president knows his duties and does not succumb to pressure or demands." "The government will be elected within the dates specified in the constitution, respecting the will of the citizens," she added.