Parliament votes down interior minister no confidence motion

Embattled interior minister Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz before parliament session, Friday: photo - PAP/Bartłomiej Zborowski

The no confidence vote was defeated by 235 MPs against with 213 for the motion.

Earlier, Waldemar Pawlak, a former prime minister of Poland and ex-leader of the Polish Peasants Party (PSL) – the junior coalition partner in the Civic Platform-led coalition – called for a delay in the no confidence vote against interior minister Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz, in connection with the worst political scandal to hit the government after seven years in power.

Before the call to delay the vote, a vote of no confidence in the government as a whole, tabled by the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, was defeated by 236 votes to 155, with 60 abstentions, following the ‘tape affair’ scandal.

PSL are demanding an explanation why the office and home of MP Jan Bury in Rzeszow, south east Poland, who leads the party’s parliamentary caucus, was raided on Thursday by four officers from the Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA) in connection with unspecified corruption allegations.

PSL leaders were informed of the raid during a meeting with Minister Sienkiewicz last night.

CBA spokesman Jacek Dobrzynski told reporters that several places were raided in connection with an investigation ordered by the state prosecutors’ office in Warsaw.

Civic Platform needed the support of the Polish Peasants Party to defeat the motion of no confidence in Minister Sienkiewicz, heard on tapes published by the Wprost weekly in June apparently discussing possible deals with central bank governor Marek Belka ahead of next year’s general election. (pg)

sourve: IAR/PAP