Warsaw, 10 November 2023 (dpa/MIA) - Almost four weeks after parliamentary elections in Poland, the victorious opposition alliance on Friday agreed to form a coalition - but it is likely to be weeks before the three parties actually take power.

This is due to President Andrzej Duda's controversial decision to ask Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki of the former ruling national-conservative Party of Law and Justice (PiS) to form a new government. Duda is a PiS member.

In the October 15 polls, the liberal Civic Coalition (KO) led by former EU Council president Donald Tusk, together with the Christian-conservative Third Way and the Left, won a clear majority in the Sejm or lower house of parliament.

At the signing of the coalition agreement in the parliament building in Warsaw on Friday, Tusk said that this was "good news full of responsibility for our homeland."

The alliance was ready to take over as soon as he received an official mandate to form a government, Tusk told journalists: "We have agreed on four years of good hard work and solidarity."

Poland's PAP news agency reported that the coalition partners agreed to correct controversial judicial reforms implemented by PiS in recent years that drew harsh criticism from the EU.

"We will restore the legal order that was disrupted by the actions of our predecessors," the coalition agreement said. "The courts will be free from political pressure and the public prosecutor's office will be able to act independently and apolitically."

The Constitutional Court, which was heavily influenced by the PiS government, is also to become independent again while the judiciary as a whole will become more citizen-centred, the agreement stated.

Robert Biedroń, deputy leader of The Left, said one of the first measures to be taken after coming to power would be a new abortion law.

Poland currently has strict legislation that only allows abortions in exceptional cases such as danger to the woman's life.

On Monday, however, Duda delayed the change of power with his request for a new govenment under Morawiecki. The PiS-allied head of state justified the move by citing a parliamentary tradition of appointing a representative of the strongest parliamentary group to form a government.

Although PiS became the strongest force in parliament in the election with 194 seats, it fell well short of an absolute majority and does not have a coalition partner.

Meanwhile, the opposition three-party alliance won 248 of the 460 seats in the Sejm. This means that Morawiecki's attempt to form a government is likely doomed to failure, and the selection of a new prime minister then falls to parliament.

Duda had previously set the date for the constituent session of the new parliament for November 13 - almost a month after the election.

Photo: dpa