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| Europe |
| Poland Re-Ups for Bush |
| 2004-10-15 |
| Polish Premier Wins Vote of Confidence Australia re-ups by re-electing Howard. Now its Poland's turn. If Kerry does win, he will not find many friends out there. Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka won a parliamentary vote of confidence Friday, heading off the prospect of renewed political turmoil in a country that is a key U.S. ally in Iraq and the European Union's largest new member. The lower house of parliament voted 234-218, with no abstentions, to back Belka's five-month-old minority government. Belka pointed to economic growth and a health care reform under his brief tenure, saying that it had been "time used well" as he urged lawmakers to support him ahead of the vote. His government has struggled with high unemployment and popular opposition to keeping Polish troops in Iraq — a deployment that nonetheless has support from the leadership of the mainstream political parties. Belka took over in May after his predecessor Leszek Miller quit, worn down by Poles' anger over cuts in social programs and corruption scandals in the governing Democratic Left Alliance. At the time, Belka agreed to call a confidence vote in the fall to secure crucial support from a group of legislators who split from his Democratic Left Alliance. The new party, Social Democracy of Poland, said the aim was to keep up pressure for economic reforms and clean government. |
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