POLAND: Speculation was growing yesterday that Poland's caretaker Prime Minister, Mr Marek Belka, will win today's decisive confidence vote, ending Poland's constitutional crisis, writes Derek Scally in Berlin.
If Mr Belka wins the confidence of the lower house of parliament, the Sejm, he will take office with his new left-wing government, ending the drama that began with the resignation of Mr Leszek Miller as prime minister on May 2nd.
Mr Belka, a one-time finance minister under Mr Miller, already lost the first-round confidence vote but there were growing signs yesterday that he will win the lower, simple majority required in today's final vote.
This time around, he appears to have the backing of Polish Social Democracy (SDPL), a new party whose breakaway from the ruling Democratic Left (SLD) helped bring down Mr Miller.
Leaders of the SDPL presented conditions for their support and this week suggested they had received assurances that their demands for new anti-corruption measures and social policy had been met.
"You have expressed the intention to carry out politics in the interest of the citizens of the state, and not those of a party," Mr Marek Borowksi, the SDPL leader, said. "This . . . opens the way to us supporting your government." Should Mr Belka win today's vote, Poland could face early elections as soon as August.
Mr Miller's left-wing government was elected in a landslide victory three years ago, but the coalition was torn apart by internal wrangling over austerity measures and a wave of corruption scandals.
After Mr Miller stood down, President Aleksander Kwasniewski designated Mr Belka, who most recently worked in Iraq as head of economic policy in the US-led coalition.
Despite working in a political limbo, Mr Belka won praise in Brussels last week for agreeing to a compromise on the EU constitution after months of steadfast Polish opposition to the deal.
Opposition parties in Warsaw criticised him for signing the deal, particularly as it omits Poland's hoped-for reference to God. However, a poll in the Rzeczpospolita newspaper yesterday said that 42 per cent of Poles were happy with the text, 32 per cent unhappy and 24 per cent undecided.