The Parliamentary Elections would take place on 15 October 2023. PiS won the most votes among the political parties, but that was not enough to form a majority to govern the country. PiS’s plans to secure several dozen MPs from other groups to build a majority also seem rather unrealistic. Law and Justice is described as a party with no coalition-building capacity. We will soon find out whether this is really the case.

Meanwhile, talks are under way in the opposition camp about a coalition government consisting of the Civic Coalition, Third Way and The Left. The opposition claims that the arrangements have essentially already been agreed and that Donald Tusk is to become the coalition government’s joint prime minister.

However, President Andrzej Duda will probably first entrust the task of forming a new government to the leader of the winning party. The incumbent prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, is expected to take on the task. Only if this attempt fails will Donald Tusk receive such a mandate. All these procedures take time. Ultimately, the new government may begin operating at the end of December.

Meanwhile, at the end of September, a budget bill was submitted to the Sejm. As we read on the Money.pl:

The outgoing government started a clock whose countdown will be heard by the politicians taking over power. It concerns the budget bill submitted to the Sejm in September. Not only will it be thrown out, but the new government will also have little time to submit its own. Otherwise, there will be early elections.

The matter of adopting the budget bill is regulated by the Constitution of the Republic of Poland:

Article 225

If, within four months from the date on which the draft budget bill is submitted to the Sejm, it is not presented to the President of the Republic for signature, the President of the Republic may, within 14 days, order the shortening of the Sejm’s term.

The new opposition government will certainly no longer have time to prepare its own draft budget. It will probably base it on its predecessors’ draft, introducing modifications. If the budget is not adopted by the end of January 2024, the President may dissolve the Sejm and call early elections.