Speaking to state-owned broadcaster TVP1 on Tuesday, Radoslaw Fogiel from PiS said that the president's decision was in line with his previous statements.
Marcin Obara/PAP

The incumbent Law and Justice (PiS) party is hoping to woo MPs “who will have sovereignty and Polish interests at heart” into forming a coalition government, a senior PiS member has said.

Andrzej Duda, Poland’s president, announced on Monday his decision to nominate the incumbent prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, as the head of the new government following the October 15 general election.

Speaking to state-owned broadcaster TVP1 on Tuesday, Radoslaw Fogiel from PiS said that the president’s decision was in line with his previous statements.

“The president has said several times that the custom of the winning grouping naming the candidate for prime minister is close to his heart,” Fogiel said.

PiS got the most votes in the general election but lost their parliamentary majority, which opens the door to the three main opposition groupings forming a coalition government.

Given that all the other parties have ruled out a coalition with PiS, Morawiecki is unlikely to win a vote of confidence in parliament.

However, Fogiel said he hoped for a coalition government to “build a majority that will really care about Polish affairs.”

“I know what the parliamentary so-called arithmetic looks like, but I nevertheless hope that there will be members – regardless of where they come from – who will have sovereignty and Polish interests at heart,” Fogiel said.

This indicates that PiS is trying to lure MPs from other parties into their political fold in the hope that they will give it a majority in parliament.