Reuters/Warsaw

Tusk: wants reforms

Most Poles are opposed to Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s proposals to strip the president of his power of veto and have him chosen by parliament instead of by voters, two opinion surveys showed yesterday.

Tusk says the changes are necessary to end an institutional conflict that has hampered reforms.

His conservative rival, President Lech Kaczynski, has used his veto to block a number of government bills, including media, health and pensions reforms.

A poll conducted by the PBS DGA agency for the daily Gazeta Wyborcza showed an overwhelming 89% of Poles want voters, not parliament, to continue electing the head of state.

More than half of those canvassed said there was no need to change the current constitution and nearly two-thirds said the president should retain his right of veto over legislation.

But Tusk’s proposal to reduce the number of lawmakers the two chambers of parliament won the support of 84% of Poles in the survey.

A separate poll by GfK Polonia for the Rzeczpospolita daily showed similar results, with 82% in favour of voters electing the president and 62% backing his right of veto.

However, the same poll also showed that more than half of Poles want to see the president’s powers curbed.

Tusk, Poland’s most popular politician, has said he aims to introduce a bill revamping the constitution early in 2010 and to have it enacted in time for next October’s presidential election, though political analysts doubt this can be done.

Unveiling the proposals last weekend at a gathering to mark the second anniversary of his two-party, centre-right coalition government, Tusk said voters could have the final say on any constitutional changes in a referendum.

Tusk and Kaczynski have clashed over a range of issues, including the euro, public spending and the question of who should represent Poland at European Union summits.

“These poll results are a bad sign that Poles have become accustomed to war at the top,” Gazeta Wyborcza quoted Jaroslaw Gowin, a member of parliament for Tusk’s Civic Platform (PO) as saying.

But a spokesman for the main opposition party Law and Justice (PiS), Adam Bielan, told the paper: “I am glad that Poles have not let themselves be fooled by the public relations stunts of Donald Tusk.”