Mateusz Morawiecki offered chance to assemble Polish government by the President

Polish President Andrzej Duda has announced that he will offer the first opportunity to form a new government to incumbent Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki following the recent elections. Morawiecki's Law and Justice (PiS) party secured 194 seats, but they need to find allies to reach the required majority of 231. On the other hand, three pro-opposition parties, led by former Prime Minister Donald Tusk, won 248 seats. If Morawiecki fails to secure enough allies, Tusk could be given the chance to form a majority coalition instead. Despite PiS coming first in the elections, they are still far from gaining a majority, and all other parties in parliament have pledged not to support them. The opposition argued that Tusk should be given the opportunity to form a coalition. President Duda made this decision after consulting with all parties represented in parliament. Tusk's Civic Coalition (KO) and its allies hold a comfortable majority of seats. The PiS government has been in power since 2015 and has had various disputes with the EU over issues like the rule of law and abortion rights. The EU has even blocked €36bn of allocated funds for Poland due to concerns over the PiS government's undermining of the rule of law. Earlier this month, Morawiecki described the ban on abortion, issued by the Constitutional Tribunal in response to a demand from PiS MPs, as a mistake. Parliament has 14 days from Monday to hold a confidence vote. However, Morawiecki is likely to fail to win the vote, and in such a case, parliament itself will choose a new prime minister.