The Polish Children's Ombudsman, Ewa Sowinska, has resigned from her post.

The speaker of the lower house of parliament – the Sejm - Bronislaw Komorowski, has accepted her resignation.

The Sejm was to deal with the ruling Civic Platform's (PO) motion to dismiss Sowinska but Komorowski said that he was satisfied by the fact that Sowinska resigned herself.

He also informed that her successor will be appointed by the Sejm on June 30. The law states that a Children's Ombudsman must remain at his or her post till a successor is sworn-in.

Civic Platform and the Left and Democrats (LiD) have been pushing for Sowinska to resign or be dismissed for a long time. According to them she was not fulfilling her duties in an impartial manner, that the good of children was not her main objective and that she used her position to promote her own ideas.

Sowinska, appointed by the previous Law and Justice government, has made many controversial statements - for instance, that she would like to ban homosexuals from working with children; she also infamously accused one of the Teletubbies of being gay.

Sowinska has always denied the charges, but when asked recently about the possibility of a resignation, admitted: "I am torn. I'm a little fed up.” Komorowski said that she did not give reasons for the resignation, but that she probably wanted to avoid an unpleasant debate that would precede the vote on her dismissal.

Ewa Sowinska has been the Children's Ombudsman since April 2006. Before that, she was an MP of the right-wing League of Polish Families. After her appointment, she remained a staunch supporter of the ultra-conservative Radio Maryja.

It is not yet known who will take her place as the next Children's ombudsman. (mo)