(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Poland’s governing Law and Justice Party (PiS) has gained a significant amount of public support this month, according to a poll by PBS DGA published by Gazeta Wyborcza. 30 per cent of respondents would vote for the PiS in the next general election, up eight points in just over a week.

The opposition Civic Platform (PO) is second with 26 per cent, down five points since late August. The Left and Democracy (LiD) coalition is third with 13 per cent, followed by the League for Self-Defence (LiS) with six per cent, and the Peasant’s Party (PSL) with five per cent.

In September 2005, voters in Poland renewed their legislative branch. Final results gave the PiS 26.9 per cent of the vote and 155 lawmakers in the 460-seat lower house. In October, economic expert Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz took over as prime minister and Lech Kaczynski won the presidential election. The coalition government included the PiS, the Self-Defence of the Polish Republic (SRP) and the League of Polish Families (LPR).

In July 2006, deputy prime minister and SRP leader Andrzej Lepper announced that Marcinkiewicz would resign after he made some decisions without consulting his coalition partners. Polish president Lech Kaczynski appointed PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski—his twin brother—as the country’s new prime minister.

On Jul. 9, Polish president Lech Kaczynski dismissed Lepper—who also served as agricultural minister—after a government agency accused him of being involved in a bribery scandal. Also in July, the SRP and LPR announced the creation of the LiS. On Aug. 13, the president discharged the four cabinet ministers who are not members of the PiS.

On Sept. 7, Poland’s lower house was dissolved after a 377-54 vote, in a motion called by the LiD. Prime minister Kaczynski expressed satisfaction with the outcome, declaring, "Now Poles will be able to chose if they want a modernized, growing Poland or a Poland ruled by a network of oligarchs."

PO leader Donald Tusk also supported the dissolution, declaring, "Only an early election can bring a better government to this country." The legislative ballot is scheduled for Oct. 21.

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