Sejm session delayed by two weeks due to epidemic concerns

Law and Justice, Poland's governing party, has prompted a two-day sitting of the Sejm, the lower house of the Polish Parliament, due to start on Wednesday, to be postponed to November 18-19 owing to the coronavirus epidemic.

The Deputy Speaker of the Sejm Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska said on Tuesday that the Sejm session was delayed by two weeks following a motion by the governing party Law and Justice (PiS).

"This confirms what we said earlier: they (the ruling party - PAP) have no ideas for resolving the situation in Poland, they do not have a Sejm majority, are afraid to answer questions and will want to wait it out this way, blaming it on the pandemic," said Kidawa-Błońska who hails from Poland's main opposition party Civic Platform (KO).

Sejm Deputy Speaker Ryszard Terlecki, from PiS, said that the debate had been postponed due to "a large number of cases, especially among our staff".

"We do not want to have a situation when the Sejm would have to be closed, because no one is able to work there," he said.