Poland’s ruling party coalition partner resigns over election row, presidential election could be pushed to May 17

The leader of the political party Agreement, Jarosław Gowin, has lost his battle against the Law and Justice (PiS) party and has resigned from the government. According to reports, the decision was made during Gowin’s Sunday evening meeting with Jarosław Kaczyński.

According to three separate anonymous sources, their conversation was said to have been emotional and intense. Gowin supposedly told Kaczyński that he was disappointed with both him and PiS before resigning from his position.

The resignation is the price Gowin paid for opposing the May 10 elections, with Gowin saying he did not want to agree to hold elections when the coronavirus infection cases are set to reach their climax. He remained unconvinced about Kaczyński’s proposal to use postal voting to reduce the risk of the Polish public becoming infected.

Gowin’s opposition was a serious problem for PiS’s leader, as without the 18 Agreement MPs, PiS did not have a majority in parliament and the postal voting bill would not go through.