Poland's Senate (upper house) on Thursday rejected the ruling party Law and Justice (PiS) candidate, Bartłomiej Wróblewski, for the post of ombudsman.
Albert Zawada/PAP

Poland’s Senate (upper house) on Thursday rejected the ruling party Law and Justice (PiS) candidate, Bartłomiej Wróblewski, for the post of ombudsman. There were 48 votes for, 49 against and 2 abstentions.

Parliament has already tried three times to choose the successor of current ombudsman Adam Bodnar, whose term of office expired at the beginning of September last year.

On April 15, Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal ruled that Bodnar could no longer continue to hold his position because his five-year term had ended.

In the fourth attempt to select a new ombudsman Wróblewski’s candidacy was backed in the Sejm (lower house) by 240 MPs, 201 voted against and 11 abstained.

Earlier, two-time opposition candidate Zuzanna Rudzińska-Bluszcz failed to receive the backing of the Sejm, while Law and Justice candidate, Deputy Foreign Minister Piotr Wawrzyk was rejected by the upper house which is dominated by the opposition.

Now the Sejm will have to appoint another candidate for the post.