Left Party leader Włodzimierz Czarzasty has been elected as Speaker of the Polish parliament, following the resignation of Szymon Hołownia of Poland 2050.
The change comes as part of a coalition agreement giving the Left Party the post for the second half of the current parliamentary term.
The President’s office criticized the result and said it is a “slap in the face” to the victims of communism:
It is disturbing and sad that 36 years after the fall of the communist system, a post-communist becomes the Marshal of the Sejm, speaking of the soldiers of the Red Army in 1944 or 1945 as liberators.
As Speaker, Czarzasty will control the parliamentary agenda and could temporarily assume the role of head of state in the absence of an elected president.
