Andrzej Duda,<\/a> another conservative who repeatedly blocked Tusk\u2019s reform efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cI am asking for a vote of confidence with full conviction that we have a mandate to govern, to take full responsibility for what is happening in Poland,\u201d Tusk said earlier in the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most of the power in Poland\u2019s parliamentary system rests with an elected parliament and a government chosen by the parliament. However, the president can veto legislation and represents the country abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tusk had long counted on a Trzaskowski victory to break the institutional deadlock created by Duda\u2019s vetoes. Instead, he now faces an incoming president aligned with the nationalist opposition and openly hostile to his government\u2019s legislative priorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe cannot close our eyes to reality,\u201d Tusk said. \u201cA president who was reluctant to accept the changes we proposed for Poland and our voters is being replaced by a president who is at least equally reluctant to those changes and proposals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The election result rattled the already uneasy governing coalition, which spans from the political left to center-right and has struggled to deliver on key campaign pledges, including liberalizing Poland\u2019s abortion law and legalizing same-sex civil unions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though he survived Wednesday\u2019s vote, the road ahead looks rocky for Tusk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are questions about what Tusk can realistically achieve before the next parliamentary election, scheduled for late 2027, and whether the coalition will survive that long amid a surge in popularity for the far right. Polish media and political analysts are debating whether this might be the 68-year-old Tusk\u2019s political twilight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI know the taste of victory, I know the bitterness of defeat, but I don\u2019t know the word surrender,\u201d a defiant Tusk said ahead of the vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As part of his fresh start, he announced plans for a government reconstruction in July that will include \u201cnew faces.\u201d He said a government spokesperson would be appointed in June \u2014 an acknowledgement that the four-party coalition needs someone who can present a unified message on behalf of all the coalition partners. So far Tusk has sought to communicate government policies to the public himself on social media and in news conferences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tusk served as Polish prime minister from 2007 to 2014 and then as president of the European Council from 2014 to 2019. He became Poland\u2019s prime minister again in December 2023 in a country exhausted by the pandemic and inflation, and with political divisions deep and bitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a sign of those divisions, half of the parliament hall was empty on Wednesday morning when Tusk gave his address, with many lawmakers from the right-wing Law and Justice party boycotting his speech. Tusk said their absence showed disrespect to the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As lawmakers held a debate that went on for hours, an extreme far-right lawmaker, Grzegorz Braun, destroyed an exhibition promoting LGBTQ+ equality in the corridors of parliament, pulling down posters and trampling on them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Braun, who has been accused of being antisemitic and extinguished Hanukkah candles<\/a> in parliament with a fire extinguisher in 2023, was a presidential candidate who won more than 6% of the votes in the first round of the recent election.<\/p>\n\n\n\nParliament speaker Szymon Ho\u0142ownia strong criticized Braun, saying he would move to restrict his access to parliament grounds. \u201cHe does these things precisely to make himself famous,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is not the first time that Mr. Braun has committed vandalism on the premises of the Chancellery of the Sejm. I do not understand why there is still no indictment\u201d in the earlier case, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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