Two opinion polls published Wednesday show the ruling centre-right Civic Platform maintain a clear lead over opposition parties, with one survey claiming the party may have enough seats in parliament to rule alone.

The poll for GfK Polonia shows Civic Platform on 49 percent, which would translate into a majority 238 seats in parliament. Support for the main opposition party Law and Justice has fallen from 40 to 37 percent.

Another poll, this time by PBS DGA shows Civic Platform on 43 percent (down one percent from the beginning of July, just before the presidential election second round)), the conservative-nationalist Law and Justice on 29 percent (down 2 percent) with the Democratic Left Alliance up to 11 percent.

The support for the junior coalition partner, the Polish Peasant’s Party (PSL) continues to be negligible on two percent (no change), three percent below the five percent threshold to be eligible for seats in parliament.

Political scientist Jacek Kloczkowski from the Centre for Political Thought in Krakow claims that the small drop in support for Law and Justice is the result of its leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski losing the presidential elections to Civic Platform’s Bronislaw Komorowski. “People want to be on the winning side,” he told the PAP news agency.

General elections in Poland are scheduled for next year with local elections this autumn. (pg)

Source: Rzeczpospolita, Gazeta Wyborcza, PAP