Polish opposition groups say Donald Tusk is their candidate for prime minister

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The leaders of three opposition groups that collectively won the most votes in Poland’s recent elections said Tuesday that Donald Tusk, the leader of the largest group, is their candidate to be prime minister.

“We are ready to create a government,” Tusk, a former prime minister and former president of the European Council, said as he and other opposition party leaders stood together in parliament to announce their decision to cooperate.

The announcement came just before President Andrzej Duda was scheduled to open two days of postelection consultations with the heads of parties that won seats in the new parliament.

Tuesday’s developments mark important steps on the path to the formation of a new government after the national election on Oct. 15, though it is still unclear when a new government can take over in the Central European nation of 38 million people.

Much depends on the actions of Duda, whose constitutional role includes calling the first meeting of the new parliament, something which must happen no later than 30 days after the election, and tapping a candidate for prime minister to try to build a government that can win a vote of confidence in the Sejm, the lower house of parliament.

It might not be until December that a new government is sworn in if Duda chooses to wait the full 30 days to summon parliament and if he first asks the ruling Law and Justice party — the party he is loyal to — to try to build a government.

Law and Justice won more votes than any other single party in the election but it lost its majority and will not hold enough seats to govern the country.

The announcement by the opposition leaders was meant as a signal to Duda that they are ready to govern and that he should not lose time by tapping Law and Justice first.

Three opposition groups that vowed to restore democratic standards in Poland together won over 54% of the votes in the nation’s parliamentary election earlier this month, putting them in a position to take power.

Duda is set to meet first on Tuesday with Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and other representatives from the conservative ruling Law and Justice party, followed by a meeting with Tusk and other leaders of his electoral alliance.

Duda will continue his consultations on Wednesday with representatives of Tusk’s coalition allies — the centrist Third Way alliance and the Left party — and with the far-right party Confederation.