The ruling Civic Platform wants parliamentary elections to be held on 23 October, in the middle of the nation’s six month presidency of the EU.
Civic Platform’s Danuta Pietraszewska conformed the date to the PAP news agency last night. “We have set a preliminary date of 23 October, with electoral lists ready by the end of April,” she said.
Constitutionally, however, only the president, Bronislaw Komorowski can officially decide the date, which must fall four years after the previous elections.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk will discuss the date at his next meeting with President Komorowski.
There had been some concern that autumn elections, won by Civic Platform in 2007 - which then formed a coalition government with the Polish Peasant’s Party – would clash with Poland’s six-month presidency of the EU, which starts on 1 July.
But it was decided that possibly having a new government formed in the spring, with an election in March, would not leave the incoming administration enough time to prepare for the presidency, which is of vital importance to the international image of Poland.
“We have long since known that the elections would be in the autumn, so nothing has changed,” said Civic Platform spokesman Krzysztof Tyszkiewicz.
He said early autumn was preferable to November, when the weather can be atrocious in Poland and can hamper campaigning and contact with voters.
A poll out today by Gfk Polonia puts Civic Platform on 45 percent of the vote, with its nearest challenger Law and Justice on 30 percent, the Democratic Left Alliance on 12 percent and Polish Peasant’s Party on five percent.
The poll shows a drop in support for the ruling party of nine percent since before Christmas. (pg)