Poland’s president said on Monday he planned to call a parliamentary election for Oct. 9, with opinion polls showing the ruling centre-right Civic Platform (PO) is tipped to retain power. Surveys show Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s PO is on track to become the first party since Poland overthrew communism in 1989 to win a second consecutive term in power. “It is my aim to announce a decision that the elections should be held on October 9. I will announce the decision formally at the beginning of August,” Bronislaw Komorowski told a news conference. Komorowski, a close ally of Tusk although he renounced membership of the PO when he became president, has to call the election for the autumn, but the date had yet to be announced. Tusk’s poll ratings, now between 34 and 48 percent, have been helped by Poland’s relatively sound economic performance during the global financial crisis.
