Dissolution dismissed

"I don't see any reason to use my constitutional powers to dissolve parliament," a stern-looking Lech Kaczyński said in televised remarks from the presidential palace on Monday of last week.

His comments came after a day of acrimony in the parliament. The President had until midnight to call early elections because of the parliament's failure to approve the 2006 budget by the end of January.

Last Monday afternoon, news broke that the President was intending to dissolve the parliament. Deputies from the League of Polish Families (LPR) and Self-defense (SO), which recently signed Law and Justice's (PiS) stabilization pact, rushed to reaffirm their support for the Kaczyński brothers. Recent opinion polls show that if elections were held soon, LPR would not make it to the Sejm and SO would have to limit the number of its deputies.

According to Jarosław Kaczyński, PiS' leader, his twin brother was keen to flex his constitutional muscles. President Kaczyński was hoping that new elections would strengthen PiS' presence in the Sejm and allow it to form a majority government, without the support of the two fringe parties. (Reuters)