Parliament has rejected the presidential veto on a bill regarding the division of powers between the position of Justice Minister and Public Prosecutor General.
Civic Platform, the Democratic Left Alliance and the Polish Peasant’s Party deputies (420 in total), voted against President Lech Kaczynski’s veto to a bill on division of powers, and the Law and Justice party deputies (156) supported it. Two hundred and fifty-two votes were required to pass the bill.
The bill, which makes the office of Justice Minister separate from the office of Public Prosecutor General, will come into effect on 31 March 2010. By virtue of the bill, a sovereign post of Prosecutor General has been created. The Prosecutor General will be appointed by the President and will serve a six-year term. A candidate for Prosecutor General can be a prosecutor or a judge with ten-years work experience.
The President will have the right to dismiss the Prosecutor General before the end of his tenure, in a case in which he were sentenced or issues a false vetting declaration. Prosecutor General can also be discharged by the parliament on the Prime Minister’s request, if a PM decides that a Prosecutor General was disloyal or incompetent. (mg/mmj)