Poland's Senate has rejected a motion by President Andrzej Duda to hold a national referendum on the future Constitution. This was the President's flagship project. The upper chamber is dominated by Law and Justice's senators who are supposedly Andrzej Duda's allies. Although the majority of senators decided not to support the referendum, some speak of President's success.
The president announced his idea to hold a referendum on changes to the constitution on May 3 of last year, the 227th anniversary of the adoption of the ground-breaking Constitution of May 3, 1791.
Andrzej Duda suggested that Poland's constitution should be amended to take into account the changed domestic and international environment, two decades after the country's basic law was passed.
The president has proposed to hold the referendum on November 10-11, 2018. November 11 is Poland's Independence Day.
According to the Constitution, the President may organize a nationwide referendum after an approval from the Senate.
The majority required to pass the resolution on Wednesday's session was 47 senators.
Ten senators were in favour of the resolution, 30 were against and 52 abstained.
President's aide, Paweł Mucha said after the vote: "I regret that the Polish people won't get a chance to voice their opinion regarding the Constitution in November. We will examine this situation".
The Speaker of the Senate Stanisław Karczewski said: "none of Law and Justice senators voted against President's resolution. There was no party discipline in this vote. Personally, I've abstained. My decision wasn't an easy one".
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 International, PAP