Elections 2023. Jan Grabiec and Michał Kobosko on the election results and the possible creation of an opposition government

The guests of Monday’s edition of “Fakty po Faktach” on TVN24 were the spokesman of the Civic Platform, Jan Grabiec, and the vice-president of Poland 2050, Michał Kobosko (Trzecia Droga), who were asked when they would be expected to talk about forming a government. – We are waiting for the final results to be confirmed and announced by the National Electoral Commission. We hope this will happen within the next few hours, tomorrow morning at the latest. We are ready, assured Grabiec.

– These conversations are, in a way, a continuation of what happened earlier. We have been talking for many months in various formats. Both leaders and our MPs are talking. We worked together on various solutions in the Sejm, even on draft bills. We will simply have to make it more specific and create an efficient government very quickly. This is our goal – he described.

Grabiec said that “the victory is probably beyond doubt.” – The democratic camp won – he noted.

– PiS suffered a disgraceful defeat and that is a fact. And neither the president nor his ministers will escape from this. These are the facts. This party lost power. Moreover, if the results are confirmed, the democratic camp has more seats than any government recently formed in Poland, he noted.

The MP denied this when asked whether he saw the possibility of PiS forming a coalition. – I don’t see such a possibility. I understand that if they were short of five or ten seats, they would try to blackmail or buy MPs. There is no chance of that today, he emphasized.

– If the president wants to save face and show that he is the president of all Poles, he cannot designate as a candidate for prime minister someone who does not have a majority in the Sejm. Then both the president and the formation that would put forward a candidate for PiS prime minister will make a fool of themselves, said Grabiec when asked about his predictions regarding the president’s decision.

– So I think that although PiS officers at various levels, in various authorities, will try to dig in and fight for their positions or the party’s positions, in fact the avalanche has already started, change is taking place – he concluded.

What after the elections? Three ways to appoint a new government

Kobosko was asked what he thought the president would do now. – We know what he should do. The question is what the president will do. Because the president is not obliged to do what seems the most sensible, most logical today and what would be normal in a democratic state, in a state of law, that is, entrusting the mission of forming a government to a representative of the coalition that has a majority in the Sejm, he said.

As he said, “any other solution that President Duda would choose is an unnecessary waste of time that we don’t have, Poland doesn’t have.”

Kobosko further emphasized that “if the opposition side has 250 seats, it will be an absolutely clear majority.” – PiS has no chance of recruiting individual MPs. Even if they tried to do it, knowing them, they could probably try to do it, but it wouldn’t do them any good, he said.

Is he sure of the loyalty of his party’s MPs? – I am sure of the MPs, Poland 2050 and PSL – he assured. – On October 15, lawlessness and injustice ended in Poland. None of our MPs, future representatives of the Third Way, will engage in any tricks, trade or deals with PiS – he declared.

As he said, “Jarosław Kaczyński can make various plans, but he will make them in his own home, in front of his own TV.” – It will not cause any further destruction – he emphasized.

READ ALSO: Rule without a majority in the Sejm? Government election scenarios

Final late poll results, prepared by Ipsos, indicate that the democratic opposition has a chance of winning 249 seats. The study shows that Law and Justice can count on 196 seats, and the Civic Coalition on 158. Third Road, the Left and Confederation also enter the Sejm.