Polish opposition parties have joined forces to try to win a majority in the upper house of parliament, the Senate, in parliamentary elections on October 13, as they struggle to oust the ruling nationalist Law and Justice party (PiS) from power.
Opinion polls show PiS winning a second four-year term with more than 40 percent of the vote for the more powerful lower house, the Sejm, which is elected on a system of proportional representation based on party lists.
But the Senate is chosen on a system of first-past-the-post, whereby the candidate who wins most votes in a given constituency is duly elected. By agreeing not to put up rival candidates, the opposition parties increase their chances of defeating PiS.
The Senate scrutinises, debates and can reject legislation passed by the Sejm.
Critics say PiS has used its current majority in both the Sejm and the Senate to rush through bills without proper oversight or time to analyse their impact.
PiS, a socially conservative, eurosceptic party but which leans to the left on economic policy, hopes to win a two thirds majority in the Sejm in the October election, which would allow it to change Poland's constitution.
But the opposition could block such a move if it held a majority of the Senate's 100 seats. The opposition groupings involved in the Senate deal include the centrist Civic Coalition and several leftist parties.
"Civic Coalition, the Left and Polish People's Party have reached an agreement before the election to the Senate. There are still a few constituencies that we discuss, but it's a matter of the next few days for the whole project to be finalised," the Secretary General of the Civic Platform party, Robert Tyszkiewicz, said on Monday.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 News in English, Reuters
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: tvn24