Polish PM rules out snap polls in summer

WARSAW, July 10 (Reuters) Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski today ruled out snap general elections, leaving himself two months to reconstruct his majority in parliament or call a mid-term vote.

Poland neared early polls after Kaczynski fired his deputy and main coalition partner Andrzej Lepper yesterday over a corruption investigation, effectively losing a thin majority in parliament.

''September will be a month of decision-making,'' Kaczynski told public radio in an interview.

He said the proposal of the opposition Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) to dissolve parliament immediately would mean general elections in August, a month when most Poles are away on holiday.

''This makes no sense. These proposals are strictly propaganda,'' Kaczynski said.

The SLD said it could also put forward a no-confidence motion in the entire government to bring the country closer to general elections.

Kaczynski's Law and Justice party said, however, they still hoped Lepper's Self-Defence party would agree to remain in government without their leader.

The Self-Defence leadership decided late yesterday to walk out but it was not immediately clear if all of the group's 45 deputies in the 460-seat parliament would share this resolve.

Surveys show the party may struggle to pass the 5 per cent threshold needed to enter parliament if elections were held now.

''In a few days, when emotions calm down, the Self-Defence may decide to stay,'' Law and Justice's deputy leader Przemyslaw Gosiewski said.

He said, however, that early elections in the autumn remained an option.

Daily Dziennik, close to Kaczynski's conservative Law and Justice, wrote today the party may opt for elections on September 30 or October 7.

Reuters AGL GC1306