Poland's Governing Right Loses Majority In Parliament

Poland's ruling right-wing coalition on Friday formally lost its majority in the lower house of parliament after three lawmakers left to form their own group, though they did not rule out their continued backing of the government

Warsaw, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Jun, 2021 ) :Poland's ruling right-wing coalition on Friday formally lost its majority in the lower house of parliament after three lawmakers left to form their own group, though they did not rule out their continued backing of the government.

In power since 2015, the Law and Justice (PiS) party now has 229 seats out of 460 in the lower house, though it can often count on the support of other right-wing groups.

It also recently signed a cooperation agreement with the small Kukiz15 party set up by punk rocker Pawel Kukiz, which has four lawmakers.

PiS spokeswoman Anita Czerwinska insisted that the government remains in control of the lower house, as "what matters is how the lawmakers vote".

But the main opposition party, the liberal Civic Platform (PO), hailed the defections "as a symbolic moment." "The government no longer has the stable majority it had for six years," PO spokesman Jan Grabiec told reporters.

In the opposition-controlled senate, the upper house of parliament, the PiS has 48 out of 100 seats.

The three lawmakers who jumped ship said the PiS had drifted from its original ideals, notably criticising the government's handling of the pandemic and its energy policy. They also said small businesses had received insufficient aid.

From now on, "we will examine in depth all bills, coming from both sides of the political divide, without prejudice," said one of the trio, Zbigniew Girzynski.

He added that their departure was a "warning" for the governing party.

"If the PiS fails to get back on track, we're convinced that our parliamentary group will expand to other PiS lawmakers, since I know there are many people who share our dissatisfaction," he told reporters.