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Polish PM Tusk Could Become President
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Many people in Poland would like to have current prime minister Donald Tusk as president, according to a poll by PBS DGA published in Gazeta Wyborcza. 36 per cent of respondents would support Tusk of the governing Civic Platform (PO) in the next presidential election, up three points since August.
Incumbent Lech Kaczynski of the opposition Law and Justice Party (PiS) is behind with 15 per cent, followed by former prime minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz with 11 per cent, former justice minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz with nine per cent, and former justice minister and public prosecutor general Zbigniew Ziobro with eight per cent.
In October 2005, Kaczynski defeated Tusk in a presidential run-off with 54.04 per cent of the vote. His five-year term will end in December 2010. Kaczynski is eligible for consecutive re-election.
In October 2007, Polish voters renewed the Diet, or lower house of Parliament. Final results gave Tusk’s PO 41.51 per cent of the vote and 209 seats, followed by the PiS with 32.11 per cent of the vote and 166 seats. In November, the PO and the Peasant’s Party (PSL)—who together hold 240 seats in the 460-member Diet—agreed to form a coalition government.
In November, Tusk was sworn in as prime minister, and declared: "I am convinced that if we help each other, we will succeed. I am addressing this sincere request to you too, Mister President." The president’s twin brother and fellow PiS member Jaroslaw Kaczynski served as prime minister in the outgoing administration.
Tusk’s party is considered pro-European, while Kaczynski’s is Euro-sceptic—a situation that causes constant rifts.
On Oct. 13, Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski "begged" the Polish president not to attend a European Union (EU) meeting on the global financial turmoil and asked him to send a representative with more expertise than him on the topic, saying in a radio address, "On bended knee, I beg you Mr President, don’t go. (...) Don’t weaken our negotiating position at this important summit."
Polling Data
Who would you vote for in the next presidential election?
|
Oct. 2008 |
Aug. 2008 |
|
|
Donald Tusk |
36% |
33% |
|
Lech Kaczynski |
15% |
15% |
|
Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz |
11% |
12% |
|
Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz |
9% |
12% |
|
Zbigniew Ziobro |
8% |
11% |
Source: PBS DGA / Gazeta Wyborcza
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,065 Polish adults, conducted from Oct. 3 to Oct. 5, 2008. Margin of error is 3 per cent.