Presidential Palace, Warsaw

The vast majority of Poles do not want to give up the right to choose their president, rejecting Constitutional reforms suggested by Prime Minister Tusk, says a new opinion poll.

Eighty two percent told the Gfk Polonia opinion pollster that the head of state should remain being elected by universal suffrage and not a special assembly, as proposed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk last Saturday.

Tusk also suggested that the presidential veto should with withdrawn after the government has been frustrated by President Lech Kaczynski’s frequent blocking of government legislation and that the number of MPs and senators should be reduced in the two houses of parliament.

Almost two thirds of those surveyed believe that the president should have the right to veto legislation.

GIK Polonia telephone survey of a sample of 500. (pg)

Check out an audio report on the proposed Constitutional changes by Slawek szefs here.