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| Europe |
| Surprise as economist-physics teacher named to lead Poland |
| 2005-09-28 |
| In a surprise move, the conservative winner of last Sunday’s Polish elections, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, has proposed physics and economics expert Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz as the new Polish prime minister – refraining from taking the tob job himself. Mr Kaczynski’s right-leaning Law and Justice party on Sunday won a convincing victory in the country’s general elections, winning 26.7 percent of the votes, ahead of the centre-right Civic Platform which ended up gaining 24.1 percent. During the campaign both parties had already said they would form a coalition. Together, they will now make up a majority with 288 of the 460 parliament seats. Mr Kaczynski said yesterday (27 September) according to German press reports "I have considered what the shortest way is to quickly form a government". Talks with the Civic Platform had led to the conclusion that Mr Marcinkiewicz was the right man for the job, he added. The 46 year-old Mr Marcinkiewicz has been leading the Polish parliament’s privatisation committee but was a physics teacher before his carreer in politics began. Mr Marcinkiewicz said his intention is to form a "stable government for four years". According to press reports, one reason for Mr Kaczynski's move is that his twin brother, current Warsaw mayor Lech Kaczynski, has good chances to be elected Polish president after the presidential elections to be held on 9 October. Mr Kaczynski said Poles did not want two brothers filling up the presidency and the prime ministership. But Robert Beange, an economist with Lehman Brothers in London, is quoted by Reuters as saying that Mr Marcinkiewicz was "just a holding candidate until the presidency is decided". Civic Platform presidential candidate Donald Tusk had urged Law and Justice to appoint Mr Kaczynski as prime minister, instead of a "figurehead". Mr Tusk leads Mr Kaczynski’s brother in opinion polls. Although Law and Justice and the Civic Platform are keen on forming a coalition together, difficulties look set to arise primarily in the area of economic policy. While Civic Platform has a pro-business reputation, Law and Justice is said to be less market-oriented and more socially conservative. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |