Posted on 07/10/2006 4:56:33 PM PDT by Aussie Dasher
POLISH President Lech Kaczynski today nominated his brother Jaroslaw as prime minister, paving the way for a double act unique in the world with identical twins holding the top two government posts.
"The president of the republic of Poland, Lech Kaczynski, has designated Jaroslaw Kaczynski as prime minister," the presidency said in a statement.
The widely expected announcement came shortly after outgoing prime minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz submitted his resignation, which was accepted by President Kaczynski.
Mr Marcinkiewicz's resignation at the head of Poland's coalition government means his cabinet automatically quits.
Mr Marcinkiewicz, who made the surprise announcement on Saturday that he was standing down, just nine months after being nominated for prime minister - by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, as party leader - will head the government until a new cabinet is appointed.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the head of the ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, now has two weeks to name a new cabinet and an agenda for governing Poland.
He will present both to MPs, who will then have two weeks to approve his nomination as premier and his proposed government program.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski has said his new government will be the same as that of Mr Marcinkiewicz, apart from a new finance minister.
Yesterday, Mr Kaczynski said he had invited deputy finance minister Stanislaw Kluza, 34, a former chief economist for Polish bank BGZ, to take up that post, which was vacated last month when Zyta Gilowska resigned amid accusations she had lied about her ties to the communist-era secret police.
Mr Marcinkiewicz named his economic adviser Pawel Wojciechowski to replace Ms Gilowska, and analysts have said this appointment could have helped to hasten the outgoing prime minister's departure because it was seen by PiS bosses as going above Jaroslaw Kaczynski's head.
But Jaroslaw Kaczynski said Mr Marcinkiewicz quit so he could turn his attention to contesting elections in November for Warsaw mayor and spearheading local reforms started by PiS.
No sooner had Mr Marcinkiewicz announced he was going than PiS said party chief Jaroslaw Kaczynski would be put forward to succeed him as prime minister.
If Jaroslaw Kaczynski, 57, is confirmed by parliament in the post, he will be breaking a vow he made during his brother Lech's successful presidential election campaign last year.
Jaroslaw had said he would not take up the post of prime minister if Lech were elected president, because neither the Polish people nor Poland's international partners would tolerate a fraternal double act in the two key positions of Polish politics.
Somewhere in all of this there's a Polish joke just screaming to be told, but I'm certainly not going to look for it...
No worse than bubba appointing bubbette as the health care guru.
The twins
Couldn't they have fun! Who would know who they were dealing with when...
Yep. Imagine a comic movie where one twin tries to mount a coup against another, and all the participants get hopelessly confused.
How about President Jeb picking Geroge as VP?
The president of Poland is head of state while the PM is head of government. in the US the president holds both positions.
I wonder, who is the guy in the background?
Which twin has the Toni?
(As a twin, I should point out this is the first step in the Twin Conspiracy to conquer the world!)
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