‘Will PO sink the government?’

Published on 31 October 2013 at 11:31

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“Will the government lose its parliamentary majority,” wonders Gazeta Wyborcza after a political corruption scandal shook the ruling coalition’s majority partner Civic Platform (PO), raising fears the crisis may trigger early elections.

On October 30, PO suspended two party members, including MP Norbert Wojnarowski, after the media published a tape recorded conversation in which the politician apparently promised a job in a state-owned company to a local party official in exchange for his support of MEP Jacek Protasiewicz in a regional party election in Lower Silesia.

The coalition has a parliamentary majority of only two and the scandal comes just days ahead of a series of key legislative votes including the 2014 budget. The daily’s editorial notes

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The tapes with the conversation between Civic Platform politicians show that they treat the party as an employment agency. They use the jobs in the state-owned companies to buy the loyalty of local party members.

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