Reducing the number of MPs and weakening the president’s powers of veto are just two of the proposals the government will adopt today as part of its renewed attempt to change Poland’s Constitution.
The senior coalition partner Civic Platform wants to reduce the number of Mps from 460 to 300. The government also wants to be able to overturn a presidential veto of a parliamentary bill already passed through both houses by a simple majority of Mps on the lower chamber.
Civic Platform has dropped an idea muted by Prime Minister Tusk in the past to choose the President by an Electoral Assembly. In the new bill, the President would still be elected by the people but candidates must get 300,000 signatures - and not the current 100,000 - to be able to stand in elections. The effect of this would be to reduce the number of candidates able to stand in the first round of elections.
In this summer’s elections ten candidates lined up in the first round on June 20.
The proposed bill has a much better chance of becoming law now that Civic Platform has Bronislaw Komorowski safely ensconced in the Presidential Palace. Previous attempts to limit the powers of the President, for instance, would have been vetoed by the late president Lech Kaczynski. (pg)
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