A top Polish lawmaker says parliament will vote early next month on a motion to dissolve itself, clearing the way for early elections that both the government and the opposition say are needed to end a political crisis.
Parliamentary speaker Ludwik Dorn said lawmakers will vote September 7 on whether to disband two years early. Speaking in Warsaw Tuesday, Dorn said the current minority government "has lost its reason for being." If the motion passes, Polish law mandates elections within 45 days.
Dorn, a member of Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski's ruling Law and Justice party, announced the move after a meeting of party leaders.
The prime minister and his twin brother, President Lech Kaczynski, have sought the early vote since firing a string of junior coalition partners and becoming a minority government over the past month.
The prime minister fired coalition member Andrzej Lepper in July, after linking him to an ongoing corruption probe. He fired his interior minister earlier this month, after accusing him of botching the Lepper investigation. Then, last week, he fired the ministers of Education, Labor and Construction.
Analysts say early elections pose a risk for the Kaczynski twins, because their Law and Justice party is currently in second place in opinion polls.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
