An official with Poland’s conservative governing party said Friday that the the country’s right-wing coalition government has collapsed.
Marek Suski said the Law and Justice party will continue to run Poland as a minority government, without the junior partners that were part of the right-wing coalition.
“Our former coalition partners should be packing up their desks,” Suski said
Law and Justice has been governing with the support of two small parties, one led by the justice minister, Zbigniew Ziobro.
The announcement Friday morning came after Ziobro and his party members refused to vote for an animal welfare bill which powerful Law and Justice leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski proposed.
Kaczynski, 71, is a lawmaker in parliament and has no official government role, but he is widely understood to be Poland’s dominating political force, deciding government policies and appointments.
The lower house of parliament, or Sejm, approved provisions of the proposed bill that include the prohibition of breeding fur animals and limitations on ritual slaughter.
Law and Justice managed to get the bill passed with the support of opposition lawmakers.
Suski confirmed that Kaczynski told members of Law and Justice’s junior partners in a closed-door meeting before the vote that “the tail cannot wag the dog.”
Suski said it was important to not accept cruelty to animals, adding “only good people should govern Poland.”
The Associated Press
