World News | Polish Ruling Right-wing Coalition Loses Parliament Majority

Warsaw, Jun 25 (AP) Poland's governing right-wing coalition lost its slim majority in parliament Friday after three lawmakers left it criticizing government policies, mainly on phasing out coal.

But the move is not expected to bring down the government, which can count on support from some small aligned or opposition parties in crucial votes.

The coalition of the Law and Justice party and two junior partners now holds 229 out of 460 seats in parliament's lower chamber. It came to power in 2015.

Until recently, the coalition that is on a collision course with the European Union on a number of issues from the rule of law to climate agenda, was able to push all its decisions through the lower house. But that monolith has been crumbling recently in a power struggle and under criticism of its challenges to the EU.

Opinion polls show Law and Justice still enjoys the strongest backing, mainly due to its generous bonuses to large families and pensioners and its supporting traditional, national values in the predominantly Catholic nation. But if snap elections were held, it would not win a parliament majority, polls suggest.

In 2019 elections, the coalition lost its majority in the upper house, the Senate, where it has 49 of the total of 100 votes. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)