WARSAW, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- Szymon Holownia was elected on Monday as speaker of Poland's lower house of parliament, the Sejm, during its first session after October's parliamentary elections.
Holownia, who was jointly nominated by the Civil Coalition, the Third Way and the New Left, secured 265 votes in the 460-seat chamber. He therefore beat his only opponent, Elzbieta Witek, from the Law and Justice (PiS) party, who won 193 votes.
In his opening speech, Holownia announced plans to reopen the Sejm's doors to journalists, expressing his commitment to restoring morning briefings and regular press briefings.
According to the agreement signed by the leaders of the Civil Coalition, the Third Way and the New Left on Friday, the position of the parliamentary speaker will be rotational. This means that Holownia will serve for the first two years, followed by Wlodzimierz Czarzasty from the New Left, who is expected to serve until the end of the four-year term.
During the first session of the 100-seat Senate, the upper house, Malgorzata Kidawa-Blonska was elected as the speaker with 66 votes.
In the afternoon, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki formally submitted the resignation of the incumbent government. Later in the day, President Andrzej Duda designated Morawiecki as prime minister.
Morawiecki now has two weeks to form a cabinet, and secure a vote of confidence in the Sejm. Otherwise, the Sejm will take over to vote for an alternative head of government.
In last month's elections, PiS, which had been in power for two consecutive terms, secured the largest share of votes, winning 194 seats. However, this is not enough to govern independently in the Sejm.
The opposition groupings have declared their readiness to form a coalition government under the leadership of Donald Tusk, former president of the European Council and former Polish prime minister. ■