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UPDATE: Polish PM wins vote of confidence from parliament

04.06.2020 17:00
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Thursday won a parliamentary vote of confidence in his conservative government.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in parliament on Thursday
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in parliament on Thursday Photo: PAP/Radek Pietruszka

A total of 235 deputies voted to back the motion of confidence, 219 were against and two abstained.

That result was expected since Poland’s ruling conservative Law and Justice Party and its allies have a majority in the lower house.

President Andrzej Duda said that he had suggested to the prime minister several days ago that he should ask for such a vote.

Duda said the purpose of the move was to “end and cut short this process in which the government and parliamentary majority are being hindered in efforts aiming to lead to the end of the coronavirus epidemic.”

The opposition has recently called for a number of high-profile government ministers to be dismissed.

State news agency PAP earlier in the day cited a source it did not name in the Law and Justice Party as saying the vote of confidence would confirm the stability of the parliamentary majority which backs the Morawiecki government.

Morawiecki pointed to problems in other countries amid the coronavirus pandemic, pressure on health services and an economic crisis in which "not millions but billions of people around the world fear losing their jobs."

"In this situation, we need unity between the executive, the legislature, the Sejm (the lower house), the Senate (the upper house), the president, the government and local governments. We need it very much," he added.

A total of 24,826 people have tested positive for the COVID-19 disease in Poland, with 1,117 deaths from the coronavirus so far, officials said on Thursday morning.

(pk)

Source: PAP