Minister Klich; photo - Paweł Supernak/PAP

The opposition Law and Justice party failed to get the necessary majority in parliament in a vote of no confidence against Defence Minister Bogdan Klich in the lower house of parliament.

MPs voted on Friday by 194 for the motion to 234 against, with two abstentions. The majority needed was 231 votes.

The embattled minister said afterwards that he took the vote as a show of support for reforms the government has enacted in the armed forces.

Minister Klich said that he has a good relationship with Prime Minister Donald Tusk, as evidenced by the evaluation of his work the PM gave to parliament during Thursday’s debate.

Opposition MP Ludwik Dorn and others claimed that Klich had to take responsibility for the incompetence that led to a bungled move from a conscript to professional armed forces, the condition of the Tu-154 which killed President Kaczynski and 95 others when it crashed in Smolensk, western Russia last April, insufficient equipment for troops in Afghanistan and many more mistakes which made his position untenable.

Klich responded to the criticisms by claiming that he had been trying to manage a defence department in chaos - the result of two years of government led by the Law and Justice party. (pg)