Three weeks after the clear victory of an opposition alliance in Poland's parliamentary elections, President Andrzej Duda has further delayed the transition of power with a controversial decision that favours the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party.
Duda said the current prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, will get the first shot at forming a government, even though Morawiecki's PiS does not have a working majority in parliament.
In the October 15 polls, PiS, which has held power for eight years, came in first. But it lost its majority and it is highly doubtful that it can find sufficiently strong coalition partners.
The opposition liberal Civic Coalition (KO) led by Donald Tusk, together with two other opposition parties - the conservative Third Way and the alliance The Left - secured the most seats in parliament. The three parties are already working on a coalition agreement.
Duda said on Monday that he was simply following the tradition of tasking the leader of the largest single party in parliament to try and form a government - even though Morawiecki most likely is doomed to failure.
Duda once belonged to PiS, although as president he is formally non-partisan.
This move could bring Poland further weeks of political instability, analysts said.
Opposition politicians in Warsaw had repeatedly expressed fears after the election that the president could delay the change of government in order to give the PiS another month or two in power.
Previously, Duda had already set the date for the inaugural session of the new parliament for November 13 - almost a month after the election.
If Morawiecki fails as expected, then Duda would have to move on to Tusk, a former prime minister of Poland and president of the European Council.
