"I will ask all my guests the same questions, about their plans for the future, in terms of Polish politics," President Andrzej Duda said, adding he is to focus on "investments, economy, energy, and defence issues."
He also stressed he is to ask party leaders about their chosen Prime Minister candidates, "and whether they think they have the necessary majority for that candidate to form a government."
According to a statement by the Presidential office, Duda is to meet representatives of the ruling Law and Justice party at noon on Tuesday, October 24, and a meeting with the largest opposition grouping Civic Coalition is scheduled at 2pm.
On Wednesday, October 25, the President is to meet representatives of the centre-right opposition Third Way alliance, and the New Left party, as well as the far-right Confederation group.
A previous statement said that "the meetings will be held separately with each of the election committees, in the order in accordance with the results achieved by these committees in the elections."Poland's ruling conservatives won the country's October 15 election, but lost a parliamentary majority, making it more likely for the opposition to take power.
The governing Law and Justice (PiS) party, allied with two smaller groupings in a United Right coalition, claimed 35.4 percent of the vote and 194 seats in elections to the lower house of parliament.
Meanwhile, the largest opposition bloc, the Civic Coalition, led by the Civic Platform (PO) party, won 30.7 percent of the vote and 157 seats, according to the final data released by the National Electoral Commission.
The Third Way alliance finished third at the ballot box with 14.4 percent of the vote and 65 seats, and the New Left finished fourth with 8.6 percent and 26 seats.
The Confederation, with 7.2 percent of the vote, also crossed the 5-percent voter support threshold that Polish parties need to clear to enter parliament. It secured 18 lower-house seats.
The Civic Coalition, led by former Prime Minister and European Council President Donald Tusk, the Third Way and the New Left have pledged to form a coalition government. Together they hold 248 seats in the 460-seat lower house.
The opposition won 66 senatorial seats, while the ruling conservatives secured 34 seats in the upper house of Poland's bicameral parliament.
The upper house, the Senate, is less powerful than the lower chamber, but it can delay or amend legislation. The Sejm, the lower house, needs to muster an absolute majority to override Senate amendments.
(tf)
Source: IAR, PAP, Reuters