Brussels, 26/09/2005 (Agence Europe) - Catholic conservatives from “Law and Justice” (PiS) and the Liberals from the “Civic Platform” (Po) are undisputed winners in the Polish elections of 25 September. After counting 90% of the vote, it was clear that they had together managed to take 300 seats out of the 460 at the Diete. The Social Democrats, the winners in the general elections of 2001 only got 50 seats. The elections were marked by the lowest turnout in an election since the fall of Communises in 1989 with only about 40% having voted. Pis president, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, declared that “we will have to reconstruct a lot of things in Poland. We will have to develop trust in the state again, a value that has been broadly compromised over recent years”. He also said that he was prepared to become the next prime minister but only if his twin brother won the presidential election on 9 October against the Liberal candidate Donald Tusk, “if my brother wins, I will be obliged to renounce the post of prime minister”. The formation of the government therefore risks taking some time.
The European Commission spokesperson said on Monday that the Commission hoped that the government would be set up “as soon as possible” and that it was important for the country to have a stable government to contribute to the important challenges facing the EU in coming months (the agreement on financial perspectives for 2007-13 and the debate on the future of Europe).