Polish elections postponed after parties strike deal

Warsaw, May 7 (IANS) Poland's ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) struck a deal with its junior coalition partner Agreement party to postpone the presidential elections scheduled for May 10."Due to the opposition's rejection of all constructive proposals enabling this year's presidential elections to be held within the constitutional period, PiS and the Agreement have prepared a solution that will guarantee Poles the opportunity to participate in democratic elections," said a statement signed by PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski and Agreement leader Jaroslaw Gowin, Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday."After the deadline of May 10, 2020, and the Supreme Court's expected annulment of elections, given that they were not held, the Speaker of the Sejm (lower house of the parliament) will announce new presidential elections as soon as possible," added the statement.While it is unclear when this will be as it is not known how much time the Supreme Court needs for its decision, a date in July is most often mentioned by local media. The current presidency ends on August 6.
--IANS rt/