http://www2.polskieradio.pl/eo/dokument.aspx?iid=68069

President will meet Civic Platform leader

09.08.2007
The presidential palace has confirmed that President Lech Kaczyński will meet Donald Tusk, leader of the Civic Platform (PO) on Thursday at 1 p.m.

On Wednesday, Tusk – the leader of the largest opposition party in parliament - said he was pleased that Lech Kaczyński has cut short his holiday ant taken steps to prepare for an early parliamentary election.

PO is already getting ready for an early ballot and yesterday the party’s management convened a meeting to discuss that issue.

PO politicians say the party would only support a constructive no-confidence vote in the government in Parliament as a last resort – in the Civic Platform wants to focus on its 19 motions for no-confidence of each of the 19 government ministers, which it has submitted before the Sejm.

Hunt for caretaker PM
If the present government folded and a caretaker government was to come into being until new elections, the Poles would see either Donald Tusk or Jan Rokita, both opposition politicians, as new Prime Minister, a poll by TNS OBOP reveals. The problem is that neither of them is eager to put this vision into reality.

According to the poll by daily “Dziennik” half of Poles are no longer interested in this topic and is rather indifferent when it comes to the issue of elections. 24 percent of the respondents however support the idea of new elections, and 19 percent are against.

The respondents asked who they would see as the new PM if the opposition Civic Platform (PO) come to power answered: Tusk or Rokita, who got 23 and 22 percent respectively. Neither Tusk nor Rokita, however, want to accept such a proposition.

Leader of the Democratic Left Alliance Wojciech Olejniczak, on the other hand, is spoiling for the Prime Minister’s post. During a press conference Olejniczak already declared his readiness to “take this huge responsibility”.

Already on Wednesday Olejniczak recommended his candidature in an interview for the Polish Radio One. “A politician should not run away from the responsibility. I used to be a minister in two governments. I know how the government works and I know what decisions to take for the sake of Poland,” the politician assured.

The poll was conducted by TNS OBOP on 7-8 August on a group of 1001 people.