Marcin Wiącek appointed as new ombudsman
Poland's Sejm (lower house) on Thursday appointed Professor Marcin Wiącek to the position of ombudsman in a sixth attempt to fill the position due to party disagreements.
A total of 380 MPs voted in favour of Wiącek while 3 were against.
Thursday's vote offers a chance to end the months-long saga over who should be the next ombudsman as the opposition accused all the previous candidates of being too closely affiliated with the ruling party, the conservative Law and Justice (PiS).
On April 15, Poland's Constitutional Tribunal ruled that the current ombudsman, Adam Bodnar, could no longer continue to hold his position because his five-year term had ended at the beginning of September last year.
In mid-June, Wiącek, who is supported by most opposition parties, lost in the Sejm to Lidia Staroń, an independent senator supported by PiS.
After Staroń, who was the Sejm's fifth nominee, lost in the Senate, PiS, in a surprising move, turned to Wiącek in a bid to put an end to the bitter conflict.
Wiącek must still be approved by the Senate, Poland's upper house, to take over the office. The opposition parties have a majority in the Senate, and so far the Senate has rejected all of the Sejm's nominees.
